There have been many books written about the Second World War. But I don’t think I’ve ever read one quite like this: the closest I can think of is Laurent Binet’s HhhH, but this has a fair amount less whimsy and a fair amount more forensic analysis in it.

This is a story about family, bravery, sacrifice and the power of chance. It follows one family in particular: the Brilleslijpers, who comprise a mother, father, son and, most importantly, the two girls, Janny and Lien both of whom play a vital role in keeping their loved ones safe from the Nazis.

The story unfolds with precision and a touch of dryness: Van Iperen is a former lawyer, and her love of the facts comes through in her writing. This holds the book back a bit, especially at the start when we’re getting to know them- you feel one step removed from them all the way through the book- but once things kick off, it doesn’t matter: you’re glued to the page.

Because the Brilleslijper family’s story is extraordinary: together with her sister, and their Resistance and Communist contacts, Janny and Lien kept their family from being deported to any one of Nazi Germany’s horrific concentration camps, and, once they’d audaciously moved into the secluded ‘High Nest’ (coincidentally, the living place of Van Iperen herself, and the starting point of her interest in the sisters), they opened a hiding place for fugitive Jews from around the Netherlands.

It’s a story that you wonder hasn’t been told before. It’s the kind of book you read with your heart in your throat- the fact that the book’s title is ‘The Sisters of Auschwitz’ gives away the fact that they were eventually caught, and yet you can’t help but hope that their scheme pays off.

Despite the dryness of the writing style, this is a book that still proved riveting: you can’t help but be snared by Janny and Lien’s bravery, love for each other and desire to do what is right, especially during a time when that was very hard to do. It’s an undeniably powerful, necessary read: I’d fully recommend it.

Every book I’ve read about Auschwitz has been deeply upsetting. Apart from this book. This book is so emotionless that it reads more like a reference book or a history text book. It is upsetting but it portrays the atrocities so badly that I felt very detached from what I was reading. It was interesting to read the extent of the Jewish Resistance but again I felt like I was in a history lesson. Having read so many books about the subject that were full of emotion and portrayed the atrocities so well I feel quite let down by this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.