The Warsaw Sisters

Antonina and Helena respond in different ways to the occupation of their homeland and, as the novel progresses, they are each changed by the paths they choose and the circumstances they endure. Which of the sisters did you relate to more?

Antonina conceals her involvement in rescuing Jewish children because she fears putting Helena at risk. To keep this secret, Antonina distances herself from her sister. Do you agree with Antonina’s decision to abandon Helena at the cost of protecting her? Was Antonina justified in her actions? What other choices did she have?

Discuss the different forms of resistance practiced throughout the novel—Antonina’s participation in Irena Sendler’s network, Helena’s role in the Home Army, Marek and Rutka’s involvement in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Even the Jewish mothers who gave their children into the care of strangers chose a kind of resistance. What defines resistance? What motivates resistance? What fundamental qualities do various forms of resistance share?

“Grief was a blade, slicing deep, cutting your heart to shreds. With time, the blade grew dull, your heart numb. But you still bled.” If you’ve experienced the loss of someone close to you, have you found this statement to be true? In what ways do Antonina and Helena cope with loss—the deaths of their father and Aunt Basia as well as Antonina’s loss of Marek? Is it possible to ever truly heal from grief or do we simply find a way to live while carrying it?

In what ways were the experiences of women in occupied Poland unique? How did gender shape their choices, their suffering? Their vulnerabilities, their strengths?

A pivotal moment for Helena is when she is asked to choose a pseudonym upon joining the Home Army. How does “becoming” Emilia change her? How had Helena defined herself before? How are we defined by the identities we give ourselves?

Were you familiar with the Warsaw Uprising before reading the novel? If so, did discovering this historic event through the eyes of the characters provide a different perspective? If you weren’t familiar with the history of the Uprising, what surprised you most?

During the Uprising, Helena tells Andrzej: “Perhaps courage is to be afraid, but to hold on still until the end.” Do you agree with Helena’s definition? How do you define courage?

At the beginning of the novel, Helena is still young and naive. By the end, she has become a woman shaped by war and a soldier who faced the horrors of battle alongside her comrades. Discuss Helena’s journey. What were some of the defining moments for her? Do you think Helena would have gone on that same journey had the rift with her sister not occurred? In what ways does loss both break and strengthen us?

“For as the tide ebbs, but in the end returns, so too is the bond between sisters. Changing yet changeless. Indelible. Unbreakable.” This statement is at the heart of The Warsaw Sisters. How does Antonina and Helena’s relationship change as they are altered by the journey each goes on? By the end of the novel, is their bond ultimately stronger than it was at the beginning?