This is a rare book, beautifully written about ugly things, absorbing but painful to read. The attractive cover give little hint of the content but in fact the illustration of two fragile poppies is one of the recurring motifs.
Although a work of fiction, the writer has done considerable research and woven real people and events into the story, including the hiding of Jewish people in Prague Zoo as told in the recent movie 'The Zookeeper's Wife'. Even the most difficult episodes are sourced from the memoirs of twins held at Auschwitz for horrific medical experimentation. These ordeals, inflicted by the infamous Josef Mengele, in fact saved the children from immediate death and some survived into eventual freedom.
The story explores the confused individuality of the twin girls, their mixed loyalties, their determination and love, their pain. The first person view-point is almost excruciatingly vulnerable. It highlights their thoughts and emotions whilst leaving the reader, at times, as powerless and uncomprehending as Stasha and Pearl themselves as their world disintegrates and defies understanding.
Mischling is very moving and difficult to continue to read at times, even after the camp is liberated, but this book deserves to be read widely for its truth and a strange beauty as it shows us episodes of strength, friendship and glimmering hope.
Although a work of fiction, the writer has done considerable research and woven real people and events into the story, including the hiding of Jewish people in Prague Zoo as told in the recent movie 'The Zookeeper's Wife'. Even the most difficult episodes are sourced from the memoirs of twins held at Auschwitz for horrific medical experimentation. These ordeals, inflicted by the infamous Josef Mengele, in fact saved the children from immediate death and some survived into eventual freedom.
The story explores the confused individuality of the twin girls, their mixed loyalties, their determination and love, their pain. The first person view-point is almost excruciatingly vulnerable. It highlights their thoughts and emotions whilst leaving the reader, at times, as powerless and uncomprehending as Stasha and Pearl themselves as their world disintegrates and defies understanding.
Mischling is very moving and difficult to continue to read at times, even after the camp is liberated, but this book deserves to be read widely for its truth and a strange beauty as it shows us episodes of strength, friendship and glimmering hope.