The Forest of Vanishing Stars

The next day, Yona meets Aleksander again and teaches him how to make a net to catch fish. He tells her the story of how he and a few others escaped mass execution in the ghetto, and that he has promised to protect the people who have followed him into the forest.

Yona learns that the people in Aleksander’s group are all townspeople who have never spent a winter in the wilderness, and she offers to go with them and help them to survive. After Aleksander leaves with the fish, she returns to her own camp to pack her things, knowing that everything will change forever. But she knows that the stars will be with her wherever she goes.

In the morning, Yona meets Aleksander, and they catch a basket full of fish. Aleksander questions Yona about her decision to meet his group and help them and how she came to be in the forest. His questions evoke memories of her life before Jerusza took her to the forest, and she struggles to answer them—and to understand her attraction to Aleksander.

When they emerge in the clearing where the group is staying, Aleksander introduces her to everyone. Yona realizes the camp is not safe and tells Aleksander they must move deeper into the forest. Some in the group are suspicious of Yona because she is not one of them, but they realize they need her help to survive. She agrees to go with them, even though it means giving up her old way of life and her cherished solitude.

Yona helps the group break camp and conceal any evidence of their presence. They ask her about her life in the woods, and one of the women, Rosalia, asks if she is Jewish. Yona says she was raised by a Jewish woman. As they move deeper into the forest, Aleksander questions Yona’s insistence that they leave the camp; he has tried to keep the group within a day’s walk of local villages and towns to steal supplies.

Aleksander has a gun, and he explains that a farmer allowed him to have it, saying that Aleksander’s father had once saved his life. The farmer said that by helping Aleksander, he is repaying that debt and giving the family a chance to go on. The group finds a place to settle, and Yona helps them build shelters.

The group remains in their new camp for four days. As Yona teaches them how to live in the forest, she hears more stories about their experiences at the hands of the Nazis. Miriam, Leib’s mother, tells her how they managed to escape. Aleksander thanks Yona for her help and says he is grateful for her company. On the fourth day, Yona feels uneasy, sensing a darkness coming, and she tells the group they need to move on. She and Aleksander recognize the attraction between them. When Aleksander wakes the group to move, they realize that Leib is missing.

Yona guesses that the boy has gone to the river to fish, so she goes after him. Although she finds him peacefully fishing, Yona senses danger. Two Russians emerge from the woods and ask him if he is Jewish. Laughing, they prepare to shoot him, but Yona kills them both as Jerusza taught her. She takes their clothing and gun and dumps their bodies into the stream.

The group continues to move frequently for the next two months while Yona teaches them everything they need to know to survive the coming winter. Yona tells Aleksander that they need a safe home for the winter, and he asks her if she plans to leave. She intends to stay until the group can survive on their own, but Aleksander begs her to stay longer.

They find a spot deep in the woods and build zemliankas, burrows in the earth that will keep them warm and safe. One night, Aleksander comes to Yona’s zemlianka and asks to come in. They make love, and he tells her that he thinks he loves her. She says she loves him too.

As December wears on, Aleksander moves into Yona’s zemlianka, and they develop a relationship. Hanukkah draws near, and members of the group recall their celebrations before the war. Yona remembers that Jerusza carved menorahs each year, so she carves a menorah for the group, and they light the candles in celebration. A few days later, she goes out with some of the men to teach them ice fishing.

As the group returns to the camp, Yona hears a stranger speaking harshly in Belorussian to one of the men. The stranger asks if they are hunting Jews. Yona senses danger but then sees a young woman hiding in the forest behind him. She realizes that this man is leading a group just like hers, so she steps out and speaks to him in Yiddish. He tells her that his group is also from one of the ghettos and asks to share their fish since they are starving. Yona realizes that this group can’t survive the winter without her help, so she invites them back to the camp.

The new group, led by Zusia Krakinowski, or Zus, meets Aleksander’s group at their camp, and friction ensues. Zus’s group is grateful to have a safe place, but Aleksander accuses Yona of putting everyone in danger by bringing the new people in. She reminds him that his group would never have survived without her, and he becomes angry.

That anger is echoed by Sulia, a woman in the original group, who tells Yona she is an outsider who acts like a man. Sulia says she knows Yona is up to something, and she must protect Aleksander and the group from her. Yona feels a connection with Zus, who explains that Sulia is jealous of her.

Through the winter and into the spring, the two groups of survivors become one. Yona again experiences a sense of foreboding and tells the group they must move immediately. Aleksander resists, saying Yona can never understand what it means to have a home. Zus tells her Aleksander is wrong and that her instincts have always proven right. After months on the move, the group deals with a lice infestation, which could expose everyone to diseases like typhus.

Yona learned from Jerusza that a mixture of mercury and egg can repel lice. Zus and his brother go to a pharmacy in a nearby town to get some. While they are gone, Yona has an ominous dream of ravens. She wakes and goes to look for Aleksander, who is supposed to be on patrol that night, but he isn’t there. She finds him in Sulia’s shelter, having sex with her. Aleksander tries to explain that things with Sulia are different and less complicated. Yona tells him how to use the mercury and leaves the group.