Author: Heather Morris

I’d heard a lot about this book and it was recommended by many of my friends. It is a novel, but based on a true story.

Lale, a Slovakian Jew, is transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He makes a vow to himself that he will do whatever is necessary for him to leave the camp when the war ends. He ends up getting the job of tattooing numbers on the wrists of the tens of thousands of people who enter the camps, many of whom will never leave. He falls in love with Gita, who won’t even tell Lale her last name because she never expects to leave the camp.

Life for both of them is unspeakably hard although Lale’s connections help Gita get a less strenuous job in the camp. The stories Lale tells are so inhumane it is so hard to fathom how anyone could do these things to anyone else.

After three years they manage to leave the camp, but not together or at the same time. They eventually find their way back to one another, with the help of the Red Cross.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *