Firstly I thought the cover of this book is much nicer than the picture online, as you read it you will find pictures of pins, buttons, scissors etc printed on the pages which at first I did find a bit off-putting, but after a while I was fighting my emotions as I did find this book to be quite disturbing and depressing, it's a sad story with its talk of subhuman people, chimneys, ash and red flames, even the hospital was described as the waiting room for the end! The main character is fourteen year old Ella who lived with her grandparents, before being "plucked" from the streets and she never knew her mother and father. Her best friend was Rose, who was from a wealthy family, her mother was an author and Rose has a love of books and she is often lost in her own world of imaginary stories. Ella, Rose and two other main characters are thrown together in Birchwood, which was Auschwitz in Poland. This is a story that certainly makes you think and ponder on life today and how it was for these poor unfortunate people during the war.