As 14-year-old Ella begins her first day at work she steps into a world of silks, seams, scissors, pins, hems and trimmings. She is a dressmaker, but this is no ordinary sewing workshop. Hers are no ordinary clients. Ella has joined the seamstresses of Birkenau-Auschwitz, as readers may recognise it. Every dress she makes could mean the difference between life and death. And this place is all about survival. Ella seeks refuge from this reality, and from haunting memories, in her work and in the world of fashion and fabrics. She is faced with painful decisions about how far she is prepared to go to survive. Is her love of clothes and creativity nothing more than collaboration with her captors, or is it a means of staying alive?
As a proud history-lover, I was instantly drawn to this book as it is set in a fascinating and deeply moving time period. Having recently read the brilliant Dollmaker of Krakow, my expectations were high for this book but luckily it surpassed them all.
You dive straight into the action, which I always like in a book as then you get immersed straight away. Similarly, to The Dollmaker of Krakow, it features some truly beautiful illustrations with the red ribbon running behind the pages. Also, the writing was deeply affecting and powerful.
In short, this is a brilliant story about the power of words and the cost of survival.
As a proud history-lover, I was instantly drawn to this book as it is set in a fascinating and deeply moving time period. Having recently read the brilliant Dollmaker of Krakow, my expectations were high for this book but luckily it surpassed them all.
You dive straight into the action, which I always like in a book as then you get immersed straight away. Similarly, to The Dollmaker of Krakow, it features some truly beautiful illustrations with the red ribbon running behind the pages. Also, the writing was deeply affecting and powerful.
In short, this is a brilliant story about the power of words and the cost of survival.