Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A fictionalized account of a real-life Polish resistance fighter. Talented pianist Lidia is just 12 when the Nazis invade Poland, and her whole life is abruptly upended. With their home bombed and then claimed by the Germans and Papa gone to join the Polish army, the Christian Durr family relocates to a crowded apartment adjacent to Warsaw’s Jewish quarter. At the mercy of their occupiers, Lidia helplessly watches family, friends, and strangers suffer cruelty and injustice. Desperate to fight back, she finds ways to rebel, like enrolling in an underground school and sneaking food to people in the ghetto. Her brother, Ryszard, is maddeningly tight-lipped about his mysterious work for the resistance, but Lidia eventually finds her own path to participating in the uprising. Once admitted into the circle of those planning Operation Tempest, Lidia—code name Cello—quickly rises in the ranks, thanks to her bravery and willingness to take on the most dangerous assignments. Ferrying everything from messages to grenades across the war-torn city, Lidia hopes for liberation but fears that the world has forgotten Warsaw. Although the true story that inspired this novel is compelling, Nielsen’s characters are one-dimensional, and they populate a landscape that never seems to truly come to life. Furthermore, major tragedies lack sufficient setup and execution to elicit the intended emotional gut punch in readers. An unremarkable addition to the already crowded field of World War II fiction. (photos, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 9-13) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Twelve-year-old Lidia's world is shattered when she witnesses the German invasion of her homeland (Poland) and the start of WWII. Her father goes to help defend the country, leaving Lidia with her brother and mother. After seeing the German atrocities towards Jewish people, Lidia wants to help, too, but her brother and mother hold her back out of fear of German retribution. It isn’t until her brother’s life is in danger that she's able to join the resistance and help take Poland back from the Germans. Based on a true story, Nielsen’s newest draws on Lidia Zakrzewski’s life as a teenager who joined the Polish resistance and fought in the Warsaw Uprising of WWII. This action-packed read gives a unique perspective of a Polish girl involved on the front lines of war rather than behind the scenes, one who does not bat an eye at danger if it helps her people. With hints of romance, the story focuses more on the war and the Warsaw Uprising, taking readers on a nail-biting ride through history.