Re-telling your nightmare of living in occupied Poland during WWII would stir up emotions that I would want to forget, but Lena Scheinman Woodward wanted it told.

Lena Woodward lived in Poland during the holocaust, lost her entire family, but did find her best friend, Karolina, in the factory where they were required to work and make coats for the Germans.

We are there as Lena tells of her experiences to an attorney and private investigator in hopes of getting the help she needs to fulfill the promise she made to her friend Karolina to find her twins.

Lena Woodard made a promise to her friend 70 years ago, and now at the age of 89 decided to tell her story and to try to find Karolina's children that sadly had to be abandoned because of the situation they were in.

When Lena's son finds out she is telling her story, he causes problems because he is worried about his inheritance being taken by the attorney and the investigator even though he indicates his concern is only with his mother's welfare.

As Lena's story unfolded for her attorney, Catherine, we re-lived with her the terror and atrocities committed by the Nazis, and we learned that there was a secret Lena had been keeping for 70 years.

Lena and Catherine were two characters I loved. They were strong, determined women. Liam was fun. Arthur, Lena's son, was not pleasant. I truly enjoyed the interaction of the characters both present day and past as Lena told her story.

KAROLINA'S TWINS flowed very nicely, and was another well-researched book by Mr. Balson. Mr. Balson has a marvelous writing style and a knack for keeping readers interested by combining facts with human interest.

Mr. Balson indicated that his book is fiction, but it is similar to the life of Fay Scharf Waldman whom he met after writing his first book.

World War II buffs will add yet another layer to their interest and desire to learn the truth. 5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.

you can read the summary of this book. I had read "Once we were brothers" and enjoyed it so decided to pick this one up as well. Didn't realize at the time that the characters of the lawyer and the PI were in the first book and the author's second (Which i have not read). It doesn't matter if you haven't read the previous two. Once again there seem to be a lot of WW II novels out now...this is the second I've read in a month. If you are tired of that topic, you will not enjoy this. I don't mind and i enjoyed the authors first novel. This one did not disappoint. It is a bit predictable, the writing is not always the best, but it is a good story, and loosely based on actual events. It was a book I didn't want to put down until the end.