For readers of Lilac Girls and The Tattooist of Auschwitz , a heartbreaking story of survival, where life or death relies on the smallest chance and happiness can be found in the darkest times. It is 1942 and Eva Adami has boarded a train to Auschwitz. Barely able to breathe due to the press of bodies and exhausted from standing up for two days, she can think only of her longed-for reunion with her husband Michal, who was sent there six months earlier. But when Eva arrives at Auschwitz, there is no sign of Michal and the stark reality of the camp comes crashing down upon her. As she lies heartbroken and shivering on a thin mattress, her head shaved by rough hands, she hears a whisper. Her bunkmate, Sofie, is reaching out her hand... As the days pass, the two women learn each other's hopes and dreams - Eva's is that she will find Michal alive in this terrible place, and Sofie's is that she will be reunited with her son Tomas, over the border in an orphanage in Austria. Sofie sees the chance to engineer one last meeting between Eva and Michal and knows she must take it even if means befriending the enemy... But when Eva realizes she is pregnant, she fears she has endangered both their lives. The women promise to protect each other's children, should the worst occur. For they are determined to hold on to the last flower of hope in the shadows and degradation: their precious children, who they pray will live to tell their story when they no longer can.
This is an unforgettable story...that immediately had me in the First 3 pages!! I never had that happen before, usually after a chapter or two,...its a story of young hopeful love, unbearable heartbreak, and Hope, and the will to survive . It is about a young girl Eva, who is smitten by a young violin player Michal, who she listens to as she sits in the village square, and sketches the life around her. They eventually start dating and are so in love with each other that they wind up marrying six to nine months into their relationship. Things are happening that are frightening to all the people in their little village, the talk of war and Hitler's advance into Czechoslovakia next. But they have faith in their president and that the Allies would soon come to stop the Nazi's. Then one horrible day, without warning the trains came and just took people ...and among those people is her beloved husband Michal. Eva, is in such shock, that the next transport that comes through, she practically volunteers to go...to find and be with her love, Michal. But of course as she arrives at Auschwitz, and goes through the process of her head being shaved, her clothes and shoes being replaced by clog shoes that are to big, and hard, and hurting, to over sized uniforms that are filthy and stinking. The Reality of the camp, and no sign of Michal come crashing down on her, as she is assigned to a barrack, and is laying on a thin mattress, shivering, crying, and heartbroken, that she may never see Michal again. Sophie, her bunkmate, reaches out her hand to Eva, to comfort her and to try to give her words of encouragement. Together they become inseparable, learning about each others lives, what happened to them, how they wound up here, and all that they have lost. Mothers, Fathers, Sister's, Brothers, Husbands, Children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...they all come together to tell their stories...the young and old in her Barrack. Through the story you read about the Horror, and Horrible treatment of the prisoners, young and old, the starvation, and dying of thirst, with limited water in a barrack with hundreds of women, the roll calls at 4 in the morning...standing for hours in the heat, the pouring rain, freezing cold, and snowy blizzards! Through it all, Eva and Sophie, are there for each other, promising to live to the very end..that they will both make it out alive ! They promise to have each other's back ..they are all they have in the world ! So much unfolds as the ladies live their lives in the camp, then...as if by a miracle...something that is beyond Eva's imagination...she gets word that Michal is there !! HE'S Alive !!! The story will take you on a Journey that is almost to hard to believe...will have your heart in your throat, and praying for all the girls that you grow to know..to make it out alive! It is an Excellent story, with Actual researched facts, for the true Historical parts. An easy read, That I highly Recommend, and an ending you would never have imagined.!
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