This is a book that grips you and won't let go. I sat and read it from cover to cover without a break and even a couple of hours later it is still haunting me. You would think that some 70+ years on from World War II we would become innured to the tragedies that befell the Human Race at that time but this novel brings this home to us.
Never forget that this is, first and foremost, a novel. Based upon the life of Lale and Gita Sokolov it is only based on their experiences in Birkenau and it never purports to be a true retelling of their story.
The brutality of the camps is set against the basic need for Human closeness and shows how love can flourish in even the most dire circumstances. Circumstances that none of us, in the "First World" can truely begin to imagine. This novel gives only a glimpse of that world but a glimpse is all we need, the desperation seeps off the page.
Whilst it is true that Lale and Gita may be seen as collaborating with their captors they did what they had to to survive. Perhaps the most tragic tale is that of Cilka who was night after night forced to share a bed with the oppressors and then was jailed after the war for collaboration. All she did was survive at massive personal cost but she was vilified for that desire to survive.
Although Lale and Gita survived, everything they endured most definitely changed them as people. Yet, the afterword by their Son shows that if anything their experiences made them in to "better" people. Loving and forgiving they carried on with life with a dignity that is both astonishing and inspiring.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would recommend it wholeheartedly.