This account of nine young women who escaped from a Nazi death march at the end of World War 2 is often painful to read but well worth the effort to appreciate what happened in Europe eighty years ago. It is very moving and shows the personalities of this group of friends at a time of extreme danger and privation. You cannot read it without pondering on the inhumanity shown to concentration camp pisoners and slave workers. And on what part you yourself may have played had you lived in those times.
Gwen Strauss's account is not a novel but has the degree of detail and reporting of emotions and dialogue which often makes it read as one. However, it also benefits from her meticulous research in official documents, various written memoirs and interviews, together with a smattering of photos to remind us these were real people. Each source is clearly, but not tediously, identified.
The majority of the book is a 'roadtrip' story of a tense journey on foot across enemy terrain and front lines. This would make an excellent movie. But there is more. We learn of the varied pre-war backgrounds of each of the nine women held as political prisoners; six French, two Dutch and one Spanish. The final part of the book deals with their return to civilian life and subsequent lives. There's a thoughtful consideration of the impact of their traumatic experiences on their mental and physical health and even upon that of their children.
Gwen Strauss's account is not a novel but has the degree of detail and reporting of emotions and dialogue which often makes it read as one. However, it also benefits from her meticulous research in official documents, various written memoirs and interviews, together with a smattering of photos to remind us these were real people. Each source is clearly, but not tediously, identified.
The majority of the book is a 'roadtrip' story of a tense journey on foot across enemy terrain and front lines. This would make an excellent movie. But there is more. We learn of the varied pre-war backgrounds of each of the nine women held as political prisoners; six French, two Dutch and one Spanish. The final part of the book deals with their return to civilian life and subsequent lives. There's a thoughtful consideration of the impact of their traumatic experiences on their mental and physical health and even upon that of their children.