A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II

Elizabeth Wein

Jan 2019 · Balzer + Bray · Narrated by Amy Landon

About this audiobook

Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist!

The gripping true story of the only women to fly in combat in World War II—from Elizabeth Wein, award-winning author of Code Name Verity

In the early years of World War II, Josef Stalin issued an order that made the Soviet Union the first country in the world to allow female pilots to fly in combat. Led by Marina Raskova, these three regiments, including the 588th Night Bomber Regiment—nicknamed the “night witches”—faced intense pressure and obstacles both in the sky and on the ground. Some of these young women perished in flames. Many of them were in their teens when they went to war.

This is the story of Raskova’s three regiments, women who enlisted and were deployed on the front lines of battle as navigators, pilots, and mechanics. It is the story of a thousand young women who wanted to take flight to defend their country, and the woman who brought them together in the sky.

Packed with black-and-white photographs, fascinating sidebars, and thoroughly researched details, A Thousand Sisters is the inspiring true story of a group of women who set out to change the world, and the sisterhood they formed even amid the destruction of war.

Ratings and reviews

Meticulously researched and detailed, A Thousand Sisters is about the thousand or so airwomen in the Russian Red Army that were the only combat force with women in it, during WWII. Since it was Wein's book, writer of the beautifully written Code Name Verity, I was especially excited to read this book. However, it did not live up to my expectations as an engaging book, albeit non-fiction, about the brave and legendary women of Russia. A couple of chapters in, I realized the format of the book was not entirely conducive to constant reading. The sheer bombardment of details, names and places was enough to overwhelm me. I barely kept a few names in my mind, and trudged along through the book, as it recounted the varied experiences of the women, their general childhood during the Lenin and Stalin era, and the wartime regulations that curtailed and freed them. It recounted specific experiences for a lot of women, and highlights of their individual career paths, but the problem with how Wein arranged the events by theme and not always chronology meant that the reader is frequently jumping back and forth between different women and times. It would have probably been more interesting had it focused on a few women exclusively and written in others around them, instead of just being this woman, that contingent, that force. I did like the fact that it gave a general background to their situation, and made constant comparisons to the treatment of airwomen in Western countries. Some missions were recounted, which made for exciting stories in between all the information being thrown at you. As a person who is checking it out as a starting point for research, it will probably make for a good choice; it might just bore a leisure reader like me. I tried out the audiobook early on in the book, and it was a much smoother read on audio than in print. (Which just goes to say, don't knock audiobooks!)

About the author

Elizabeth Wein is the holder of a private pilot’s license and the owner of about a thousand maps. She is best known for her historical fiction about young women flying in World War II, including the New York Times bestselling Code Name Verity and Rose under Fire. Elizabeth is also the author of Cobalt Squadron, a middle grade novel set in the Star Wars universe and connected to the 2017 release The Last Jedi. Elizabeth lives in Scotland and holds both British and American citizenship. Visit her online at www.elizabethwein.com.