Eighteen-year-old twin sisters Helena and Ruth Nowak are struggling to raise their three young siblings in a small village in the Polish countryside underneath the shadow of German occupation in the winter of 1940. With their father dead, their mother hospitalized and out of touch with reality, and food in short supply, the girls shoulder heavy responsibilities at a time when they should be having fun.  

Unfortunately, fun is a commodity not to be found in their area where Jews disappear daily, never to be seen again, and neighbors are suspicious of one another and of the authorities. One wrong move could result in their being reported to the Gestapo and whisked away to certain death. The sisters know they must lay low to avoid drawing attention to themselves and their family.

"Constant tension from outside events, as well as the strained relationship between the two sisters, provides a page-turning read that easily draws readers into the drama."

While homebody Ruth takes care of the children by providing love, nurturing and meals, Helena regularly makes the arduous trip through the mountains to visit their mother in the city’s Jewish hospital and scours the surrounding woods to locate anything the family can use in their fight to survive.

One day, Helena discovers an injured American paratrooper, Sam Rosen, who amazingly survived when his plane crashed. Although scared to provide assistance to the soldier --- an act the Nazis would surely deem worthy of death --- Helena is unwilling to leave Sam injured and exposed to the elements. She helps him to shelter and comes back to check on him, bringing food and water later. Surprisingly, Sam --- a Jew --- speaks Polish, a skill obtained from his grandparents, and he and Helena are able to communicate, tentatively at first and then more freely later. As his injured leg heals, they get to know each other, and their feelings for one another blossom.  

As Helena falls more deeply in love with Sam and continues making excuses to visit and tend to him, Ruth, ever able to sniff out a secret, knows that her twin sister is hiding something. She just doesn't know what it is yet. When she finally solves the mystery, her jealousy and foolish acts put everyone involved at risk.

When it becomes clear that the danger of staying in Poland outweighs the risks of staying put, Sam, Helena and the others create a daring escape plan. Will they make it out alive, or die trying to secure the freedom they so desperately deserve?

Pam Jenoff’s THE WINTER GUEST is a riveting tale of an innocent family who, like so many others, never dreamed of the horrors they would encounter during World War II. Constant tension from outside events, as well as the strained relationship between the two sisters, provides a page-turning read that easily draws readers into the drama. In the midst of the turmoil, though, springs a true love story that transcends time and troubles.