Sign-In
Cart
Listening to Chopin While Fighting Nazis: Twenty Angels on Her Roof
Paperback
Religion General JudaismGeneral Christianity
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN13: 9798250272223
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Mar 1 2026
Pages: 122
Weight: 0.38
Height: 0.26 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Mar 1 2026
Pages: 122
Weight: 0.38
Height: 0.26 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Twenty Angels on Her Roof A blistering, audacious, darkly luminous tale of defiant faith, ferocious innocence, and celestial rebellion. In Charns's latest novella, a razor-sharp, unbreakable 12-year-old dares to marshal angels against the iron cruelty of the Third Reich. In 1942 Nazi-occupied Suwalki, 12-year-old Basia Gwiazdowska serves as lookout while her father listens to an illegal radio and works with the Polish Home Army. After he smuggles twenty Jewish neighbors to safety in Lithuania, the Gestapo arrest him for treason. Left behind with her fury and fear, Basia turns to the Black Madonna, Baby Jesus, twenty Jewish angels, and a mysterious wanderer named Tortuga, assembling a celestial resistance against the machinery of Nazi power.
Charns fuses wartime realism with mystical imagination. Basia's world is historically precise, filled with illegal radios, prison sentences, deported classmates, opportunistic collaborators, yet it is filtered through a consciousness that refuses to accept that evil is the final authority. Angels stand on rooftops in gratitude for mercy shown. Saints negotiate from the margins. Mary and Baby Jesus engage in intimate theological exchanges that oscillate between reverence and irreverence. Free will remains at the story's center. The angels cannot overrule it, even when Basia thirsts for vengeance. Heaven refuses to participate in violence.
What distinguishes the book is its tonal daring. Horror coexists with dark humor; fascist myth collapses under ridicule. Basia emerges neither saint nor symbol but a volatile, questioning child wrestling God in real time. Fate and chance, faith and rage, are examined with audacious moral energy, suggesting that mercy-once enacted-generates forces that outlive terror. Perfect for readers who love fierce historical fiction, mystical wartime defiance, and short, powerful reads charged with faith and rebellion. The Prairies Book Review Listening to Chopin While Fighting Nazis A deeply revealing, intimate account of a family's Polish history. As a six-year-old boy, Charns came across a book named 'I Survived Hitler's Hell' by A.P. Gwiazdowski and became curious about his family's Polish history. As he grows older, he begins to wonder about his family's claim about risking their lives for their Jewish neighbors in Suwalki, Poland, during WWII and his maternal grandfather Alexander Peter Gwiazdowski's antisemitic views. Charns took on himself to unravel the truth, throwing himself into meticulous research, which included reading Polish history, interviewing survivors, Internet searches, requesting files under the Freedom of Information Act, and reading FBI memos on his deceased relatives. Soon, it becomes apparent that this story of a family's role in saving the lives of their neighbors in a small Polish town was not only true but also served as a small-scale version for a considerable chunk of population-rescue efforts ranging from the isolated actions of individuals to organized networks both small and large. Charns details his family's part in the political resistance to Nazi rule ... Prairies Book Review.
What distinguishes the book is its tonal daring. Horror coexists with dark humor; fascist myth collapses under ridicule. Basia emerges neither saint nor symbol but a volatile, questioning child wrestling God in real time. Fate and chance, faith and rage, are examined with audacious moral energy, suggesting that mercy-once enacted-generates forces that outlive terror. Perfect for readers who love fierce historical fiction, mystical wartime defiance, and short, powerful reads charged with faith and rebellion. The Prairies Book Review Listening to Chopin While Fighting Nazis A deeply revealing, intimate account of a family's Polish history. As a six-year-old boy, Charns came across a book named 'I Survived Hitler's Hell' by A.P. Gwiazdowski and became curious about his family's Polish history. As he grows older, he begins to wonder about his family's claim about risking their lives for their Jewish neighbors in Suwalki, Poland, during WWII and his maternal grandfather Alexander Peter Gwiazdowski's antisemitic views. Charns took on himself to unravel the truth, throwing himself into meticulous research, which included reading Polish history, interviewing survivors, Internet searches, requesting files under the Freedom of Information Act, and reading FBI memos on his deceased relatives. Soon, it becomes apparent that this story of a family's role in saving the lives of their neighbors in a small Polish town was not only true but also served as a small-scale version for a considerable chunk of population-rescue efforts ranging from the isolated actions of individuals to organized networks both small and large. Charns details his family's part in the political resistance to Nazi rule ... Prairies Book Review.
Also from
Charns, Alex
Listening to Chopin while fighting Nazis: A Journey into my Family's WWII Polish Past
Charns, Alex
Paperback
$7.20
The Girl Who Wore A Hockey Helmet: A Star Gwiazda Public Defender legal thriller
Charns, Alex
Paperback
$13.20
How Hockey Saved the World*: (*And Defeated George W. Bush, But Not Necessarily in That Order)
Charns, Alex
Paperback
$14.20
Also in
General Christianity
The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations
Metzger, Bruce M.
Hardcover
$311.75
The Destiny of Modern Societies: The Calvinist Predestination of a New Society
Zafirovski, Milan
Paperback
$72.50
The Death of Christ: The Bible and Popular Culture Vs Archaeological and Historical Evidence
Rutledge, Steven
Hardcover
From $17.99
The Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes: The Initiatory Teachings of the Last Supper
Gaffney, Mark H.
Paperback
From $10.99
A Child Shall Lead Them PB: Martin Luther King Jr., Young People, and the Movement
Burrow, Rufus
Paperback
$27.55
Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion: 300 Terms Thinkers Clearly Concisely Defined
Evans, C. Stephen
Paperback
$18.04
The Jesus Discoveries: 10 Historic Finds That Bring Us Face-To-Face with Jesus
Johnston, Jeremiah J.
Paperback
$17.09
When God Doesn't Fix It: Lessons You Never Wanted to Learn, Truths You Can't Live Without
Story, Laura
Paperback
$20.89
The Elijah Mandate: A Call to Courageous Faith in a Hostile World
Piflaks, Tolik
Tsarfati, Amir
Paperback
$18.04
Tactics, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions
Koukl, Gregory
Paperback
$21.84
Torn: Why People We Love Are Leaving the Church and What We Can Learn from Them
Strong, Jeff
Paperback
$23.70
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Kobes Du Mez, Kristin
Paperback
$17.06
Jesus & Your Mental Health: Linking God's Word and Modern Science to Find Peace about Mental Health
Maxwell Lmft, Rebecca
Paperback
$16.14
Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity): On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence
Leo XIV, Pope
Hardcover
$17.05
The Promise of Heaven Bible Study Guide: Why You Can Get Excited about Your Eternal Home
Jeremiah, David
Paperback
$16.14
Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy
Jones, Robert P.
Hardcover
$27.00
Friendship in the Lord: A Catholic Classic on Holy Friendship and Life in Christ a Christian Classic
Hinnebusch Op, Paul
Paperback
$17.05
Determined to Believe?: The Sovereignty of God, Freedom, Faith, and Human Responsibility
Lennox, John C.
Paperback
$24.99
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume
Robinson, James M.
Meyer, Marvin W.
Paperback
$37.99
Sounding the Seasons Enlarged Edition: One Hundred and Ten Sonnets for the Christian Year
Guite, Malcolm
Paperback
$19.94
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World
Comer, John Mark
Hardcover
$23.75
Making Your Case for Christ Bible Study Guide: An Action Plan for Sharing What You Believe and Why
Strobel, Lee
Mittelberg, Mark
Paperback
$14.99
The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
Strobel, Lee
Paperback
$9.49
The War on Reality: Recovering Truth in a World That Celebrates Lies
Turek, Frank
Hayes, Phoenix
Paperback
$20.89
Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence
Pope Leo XIV, XIV
Paperback
$9.45
Evidence That Demands a Verdict Bible Study Guide: Jesus and the Gospels
McDowell, Josh
McDowell, Sean
Paperback
$16.14
Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back
Burpo, Todd
Paperback
$18.99
Bloodline Deliverance Study Manual: How to Set Yourself, Your Family, and Your Bloodline Free from Demons and Curses
Brewer, Mike
Brewer, Andrea
Paperback
$37.49
The Official Study Guide to I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist
Geisler, Norman L.
Jimenez, Jason
Paperback
$21.86
Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness, and What He Wants to Do with You
MacArthur, John F.
Paperback
$18.99
Becoming Like Jesus Bible Study Guide Plus Streaming Video: A Bible Study on the Beatitudes
Chandler, Matt
Paperback
$21.84
Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West
Ehrman, Bart D.
Hardcover
$27.00
Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions-A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord - 2nd Edition
Concordia Publishing House
Hardcover
$62.99
Did America Have a Christian Founding?: Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth
Hall, Mark David
Paperback
$19.99
Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God's Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You
Burke, John
Paperback
From $8.99
From Genesis to Junia: An Honest Search for What the Bible Really Says about Women in Leadership
Sprinkle, Preston
Paperback
$18.99
Help Is Here: Finding Fresh Strength and Purpose in the Power of the Holy Spirit
Lucado, Max
Paperback
$18.99
All-In-One Holy Bible with Apocrypha: 300 Books in Print Plus Audiobook, Videos, and Thousands of Digital Books
Publishing, Dunatos
Hardcover
$62.46
The Final Flood: Ancient Supernatural Technology, Fallen Angels, and Taking Your Place in the Noah Generation
Ragland, Larry
Paperback
$20.89
When People Are Big and God Is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man
Welch, Edward T.
Paperback
$18.99
Every Moment Holy: Death, Grief, and Hope: (Pocket Edition) (Over 100 Prayers and Illustrations for Finding Purpose & Hope During Seasons of Loss or S
McKelvey, Douglas Kaine
Hardcover
$27.54
The Two Swords of Christ: Five Centuries of War Between Islam and the Warrior Monks of Christendom
Ibrahim, Raymond
Hardcover
$30.40
Messiah: A Contemporary Adaptation of the Classic Work on Jesus' Life, the Desire of Ages
Thomas, Jerry D.
Paperback
$9.49
Praying Their Way: 24 Prayer Practices for Kids and the Adults Who Love Them
Owens, L. Roger
Paperback
$18.99
Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church
Sack, Kevin
Hardcover
$33.25
The Hardest Sermons You'll Ever Have to Preach: Help from Trusted Preachers for Tragic Times
Zondervan Publishing
Paperback
$26.99
Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry: A Personal and Practical Guide to Starting Right
Fields, Doug
Paperback
$21.84