Muriel's War

Reviews / Votes

'Isenberg's account of her extravagant life and loves is a gripping read.' - The Scotsman 'Terrible times can elicit extraordinary deeds even from ordinary people, and Muriel Gardner was anything but ordinary...[Author Sheila Isenberg sets] the story straight about this intrepid American heroine.' - The Boston Globe 'A long overdue biography of a remarkable woman. Mining hitherto unpublished material Sheila Isenberg skillfully weaves together the complex threads of Muriel's life into a riveting story of her many loves and unassuming heroism.' - Brenda Webster, author of Vienna Triangle 'Sheila Isenberg tells Muriel Gardiner's extraordinary story exceedingly well. Muriel's War portrays the energetic idealism and exceptional generosity of its subject with admiration, even devotion. Through careful attention to every available source, Isenberg details the remarkable achievements of a life filled to overflowing with benevolent action and unflinching reflection.' - George Rupp, President, International Rescue Committee "Beautiful, brilliant, rich, brave, Muriel Gardiner could have been a character in a potboiler novel - but she was a real-life heroine of the Nazi resistance and Sheila Isenburg has done an extraordinary job of documenting her remarkable life both conscientiously and suspensefully in this absorbing biography." - Amanda Vaill, author of Everybody Was So Young: Sara and Gerald Murphy - A Lost Generation Love Story "This is an utterly absorbing book. Exhaustively researched and thoroughly documented, it is dramatic, suspenseful, and movingly inspirational." - Arthur Zitrin, M.D., Professor emeritus of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine, Co-producer of the documentary film, "The Real Julia: The Muriel Gardiner Story' "Isenberg puts Gardiner's life in sharp focus - what twists in her life brought her to Vienna and ultimately to underground resistance work during and after Hitler's 1938 takeover of Austria. We see what makes Gardiner human, and what makes her a hero, but most of all we see how one woman can make a difference in the lives of many. Murial Gardiner looked fear in the face, and as Eleanor Roosevelt has said, 'we must do that which we think we cannot.'" - JoAnn Myers, chair of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center, professor of Political Science & Women's Studies at Marist College, USA