Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a Lithuanian-American with a Chinese name, thanks to my husband. Thirty years ago, I found papers among my uncle’s possessions telling a WWII story about our ancestral Lithuania. I had heard about it in broad terms, but I could hardly believe what I was reading. I spent years validating the material. The result was Amber Wolf, a historical novel about a war within the war: the fight against the Russian occupation of Eastern Europe. While many countries were involved in separate struggles, I focused on Lithuania and their David and Goliath fight against the Russian army. After all this time, the story still moves me.


I wrote

Amber Wolf

By Ursula Wong,

Book cover of Amber Wolf

What is my book about?

In the shadow of WWII, Lithuania barely survives the Germans. Then the Russians come. In 1944 Lithuania, Russians occupy…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin

Ursula Wong Why did I love this book?

Bloodlands is a story about the dead. Using archives made available after the break-up of the Soviet Union, Mr. Snyder sheds light on both Stalin’s and Hitler’s brutality.

In a confined area that includes just eastern Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic countries, 14 million civilians died from the 1930s to the end of the war. Most were either starved or shot. Even more startling were the plans to kill millions more.

Stalin said, “a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic.” Mr. Snyder reminds us of the tragedy.

By Timothy Snyder,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Bloodlands as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Americans call the Second World War "the Good War." But before it even began, America's ally Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens-and kept killing them during and after the war. Before Hitler was defeated, he had murdered six million Jews and nearly as many other Europeans. At war's end, German and Soviet killing sites fell behind the Iron Curtain, leaving the history of mass killing in darkness.
?
Assiduously researched, deeply humane, and utterly definitive, Bloodlands is a new kind of European history, presenting the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes as two aspects of…


Book cover of Leave Your Tears in Moscow

Ursula Wong Why did I love this book?

This touching memoir by Barbara Armonas tells the story of her choice to stay in Lithuania during WWII for the sake of her infant son.

It speaks to the toll Mrs. Armonas paid for that decision, including what it took to raise her son in a labor camp. It also looks at the rest of her family who had fled to the US and their efforts to bring her home. Despite the difficulties and trauma, the story ends with an uplifting message of hope and joy for the future.

At its best, this is a tale of love, persistence, perseverance, and forgiveness.

By Barbara Armonas,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Leave Your Tears in Moscow as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Barbara Armonas' 20-year ordeal in the soviet concentration camp system-the dreaded GULAG-is a rare and straightforward story, related with candor and underlying hope that the human spirit can survive any hardship-even the clamps of a vicious totalitarian system. This 50th Anniversary Edition commemorates Barbara's unbreakable spirit, memorializes her extraordinary life-she died three days short of her 100th birthday-and harkens us to actively nurture our freedom-because there still exist forces that challenge it every day. Her account is particularly relevant today as more and more documents of the Stalinist years and the Soviet Union in general become available for public view…


Book cover of Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II

Ursula Wong Why did I love this book?

Mr. Lowe’s meticulous research of post-WWII Europe gives startling insight into how devastated the continent was after the war.

He paints a picture of lawlessness and depravity, arguably as bad as battle conditions had been. In some cases, it might have been worse. Revenge killings, rapes, and starvation were among the horrors. It begs the question, when did WWII really end? 

By Keith Lowe,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Savage Continent as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Keith Lowe's Savage Continent is an awe-inspiring portrait of how Europe emerged from the ashes of WWII.

The end of the Second World War saw a terrible explosion of violence across Europe. Prisoners murdered jailers. Soldiers visited atrocities on civilians. Resistance fighters killed and pilloried collaborators. Ethnic cleansing, civil war, rape and murder were rife in the days, months and years after hostilities ended. Exploring a Europe consumed by vengeance, Savage Continent is a shocking portrait of an until-now unacknowledged time of lawlessness and terror.

Praise for Savage Continent:

'Deeply harrowing, distinctly troubling. Moving, measured and provocative. A compelling and…


Book cover of The Bielski Brothers

Ursula Wong Why did I love this book?

During WWII, the woods of Eastern Europe were home to Jews, resistance fighters, families hiding from the war, forgotten soldiers, and others. It was a safe-haven offering protection and support, at least for a while.

The Bielski Brothers is a touching story of Jews living in the woods of Belarus. It’s the true tale of three brothers who avenge family deaths by saving Jews marked for exile. At first, the brothers bring a few people to a camp deep in the forest. As others join them, the camp grows into a village.

By the end of the war, over a thousand Jews were living there, all testament to defiance, cooperation, and courage.

By Peter Duffy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Bielski Brothers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In 1941, three brothers witnessed their parents and two other siblingsbeing led away to their eventual murders. It was a grim scene that would,of course, be repeated endlessly throughout the war. Instead of running orgiving in to despair, these brothers -- Tuvia, Zus, and Asael Bielski -- foughtback, waging a guerrilla war of wits against the Nazis.

By using their intimate knowledge of the dense forests surrounding theBelarusan towns of Novogrudek and Lida, the Bielskis evaded the Nazis andestablished a hidden base camp, then set about convincing other Jews to jointheir ranks. As more and more Jews arrived each day,…


Book cover of War of the Rats

Ursula Wong Why did I love this book?

This riveting novel brings us into the lives of Russian snipers during the WW II siege of Stalingrad.

We live in a basement, learn something of extreme patience, and get a sense of how people barely remain sane in pressure-cooker situations. What struck me most were the women. One was a sniper with extreme convictions. Others were there for the pleasure of the men. But the best part of the novel was the cat-and-mouse game between opposing snipers. 

Not only did I learn something about warfare, but I couldn’t put the book down.

By David L. Robbins,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked War of the Rats as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Stalingrad in 1942 is a city in ruins, its Russian defenders fighting to the last man to repel the invading German army. One of their most potent weapons is the crack sniper school developed by Vasily Zaitsev. Its members can pick off the enemy at long range, and their daring tactics - hiding for hours in no man's land until a brief opportunity presents itself - mean that no German, and particularly no German officer, can ever feel safe. This part of the battle is as much psychological as anything, and to counter the continuing threat to German morale, the…


Explore my book 😀

Amber Wolf

By Ursula Wong,

Book cover of Amber Wolf

What is my book about?

In the shadow of WWII, Lithuania barely survives the Germans. Then the Russians come. In 1944 Lithuania, Russians occupy the country in a reign of terror. Ludmelia Kudirka must watch while soldiers murder her mother. But she escapes. She flees to the forest, knowing she won’t be safe for long. Terrified, Ludmelia stumbles upon a ragtag band of farmers armed with stolen weapons to fight the Russians. But how can they defeat the largest army in the world? Ludmelia must decide whether to join them in an impossible fight for freedom. Or to live the rest of her life in fear under the cloak of Soviet communism.

Based on actual events, Amber Wolf is an historic powerhouse of sacrifice, survival, and love of country.  

Book cover of Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
Book cover of Leave Your Tears in Moscow
Book cover of Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II

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