Aadrita's Reviews > The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz

This is a story about standing in the deep bowels of hell, staring imminent death in the face every moment yet still managing to stand up for one's beliefs, daring to hope and to love.

Auschwitz was the Grim Reaper's abode, where the SS harvested souls of the people whose only crimes were being able to pick up a weapon, following a different God or simply existing. Imprisonment wasn’t punishment enough. So the prisoners were forced to take part in murdering their own - operate the Gas Chambers and Crematoriums. The SS seemed to do it all for their twisted entertainment. And when the war seemed to be lost, they took even more drastic measures to hide their crimes.

Amidst of it all Mala, Edek and their friends from the resistance stood for hope. Each and every character were memorable. They enriched the story regardless of however small their appearance were. Their struggles, their love for each other and their ability to hold on to their humanity in that living hell broke my heart into million pieces. The book also focused on the German character and their complexities. How some of them too were human, how they tried to make life a little bearable for the prisoners and were punished for it.

"𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙥 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙠𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙨𝙤 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙄 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤."

This is my first time reading Ellie Midwood and I have to say I'm in awe. I was amazed by how she managed to balance the ugliness and brutality of the camps with the beauty and humanity of the characters. There were moments the book made me cry, stare blankly in despair. There were also moments it put a genuine smile on my face. The author's note at the end of the novel showed how much research she had done to get the story as accurate and rich as possible.

I received an e-ARC via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thankyou so much Bookoutour for giving me this priviledge. The book comes out in 9 March, 2021. Don't forget to check this one out.