For a start you think that the book shelves are full of books about WW2 - what is left to write? But the answer is here. The factual tale of the terrible times these nine women suffered. I would suggest it is not for the squeamish or faint hearted, but the horror is what actually happened. The way that the human spirit can survive such unbelievable treatment at the hands of the nazis, and continue to live after the War is amazing. It must have been harrowing for Gwen Straus to have researched this book, spoken to her aunt and the others. The horrors were not abstract, suffered by some remote character, but by her relative and her friends. Personally I can never read of the cruelty without wondering whites wrong with humanity that these things can happen, carried out by ordinary human beings, and the crushing inevitability of such unplanned cruelty developing from other decisions. This is a spell binding read, well written, vividly bringing it to life.