Based on the true story of the Cook sisters, who smuggled valuables
out of 1930s Nazi Germany to finance a daring, secret operation to help
Jews find hope for a new life in England
British sisters Ida and Louise Cook enjoy their quiet, unassuming lives
in south London. Ida writes romance novels, and Louise works as a
secretary. In the evenings, the sisters indulge in their shared love for
opera, saving their money to buy records and attend performances
throughout England and Europe, becoming well-known by both performers
and fellow opera lovers.
But when Hitler seizes power in 1933, he begins targeting and
persecuting German Jews, passing laws that restrict their rights and
their lives. The sisters continue their trips to the German opera
houses, but soon, Jewish members of the opera community covertly
approach the sisters, worried that they will be stripped of their wealth
and forced to leave their homes and the country. Danger looms on the
horizon, threatening to spill across all of Europe's borders.
Ida and Louise vow to help, but how can two ordinary working-class women
with limited means make a difference?
Together with their beloved opera community, the sisters devise a plan
to personally escort Jewish refugees from Germany to England. The
success of the plan hinges on Ida and Louise's ability to smuggle
contraband jewelry and furs beneath the watchful eyes of the SS soldiers
guarding various checkpoints. But how many trips can they make before
someone blows a whistle? Or before the final curtain falls on Germany's
borders?
The Opera Sisters is a riveting and inspiring novel of two unlikely
heroines whose courage and compassion gave hope to many Jews desperate
to escape Nazi persecution.
