The Girl in the Striped Dress by Ellie Midwood -historical literary fiction
Helena is at the trial of her husband Franz after the war. They were together
in Auschwitz. He as an SS officer and her as a prisoner in the Kanada
camp- one of privilege if you could call it that- as they had access to what
came out of the pockets of the prisoners and could trade accordingly
within reason. Helena is at the trial as it is thought that she may have
married under duress. She tells her story of her time in the camp and
how she met the man who later became her husband. A love story like
no other- where one is afraid of the other to begin with and the other
wants to protect her against all odds. In an environment where they
can't even hold hands or be seen together- an SS and a jew would
take both of their lives without a second thought. I loved this , there
is an ethereal quality about it due to the circumstances, yet as the
book progresses a deepness of feeling. That feeling of what
happened in Auschwitz and Birkenau and although fiction that this
could possibly have happened….. and then I finished it and read
the notes- much of this is truth with gaps filled by the author.
There was a Helena and Franz and several of the other characters
.(including the infamous Oskar Groning) Wow! This stopped me
in my tracks and shed a tear. We must never ever forget and
as Ellie says never differentiate between us all. Stunning
For more reviews please see my blog http://nickibookblog.blogspot.co.uk/
or follow me on Twitter@nickisbookblog
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About the Book:
Auschwitz, 1942: This unforgettable novel, based on a true story, brings to life history’s most powerful tale of forbidden love. Set within the barbed wire of Auschwitz, a man and a woman fall in love against unimaginable odds. What happens next will restore your faith in humanity, and make you believe in hope even where hope should not exist.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he whispered, pressing a note into her hand. Her entire body trembled when she read it: I am in love with you.
Helena steps off the cattle train onto the frozen grounds of Auschwitz. She has twenty-four hours to live. Scheduled to be killed tomorrow, she is not even tattooed with a prison number. As the snow falls around her, she shivers, knowing that she has been sentenced to death for a crime she didn’t commit.
When a gray-clad officer marches towards Helena and pulls her away, she fears the worst. Instead, he tells her that it’s one of the guard’s birthdays and orders her to serenade him.
Inside the SS barracks the air is warm, thick with cigarette smoke and boisterous conversation. After she sings to the guard, Franz, he presses a piece of cake into her hands––the first thing she has eaten in days. On the spot, he orders her life to be saved, forever changing the course of her fate.
What follows is a love story that was forbidden, that should have been impossible, and yet saved both of their lives––and hundreds of others––in more ways than one.
Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Choice, and The Orphan Train will be utterly entranced by this unputdownable page-turner. This completely heartbreaking yet beautifully hopeful novel shows that love can survive anything and grow anywhere.
*Previously titled: Auschwitz Syndrome
Ellie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning historical fiction author. She owes her interest in the history of the Second World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, The Girl from Berlin.' Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by collecting rare memorabilia and documents.
In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her fiancé and their Chihuahua named Shark Bait.
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