Brave and heartfelt and heartbreaking. Those are the words that come to mind with this book. Any person put into these concentration camps had way more bravery and gumption than I will ever have. The strength to fight for freedom when the only reason you were there is because someone else thought you less. May authors keep writing these books and may we never forget what happened.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

I was given an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start this review by discussing some of the criticisms others have put in their reviews.
Someone has complained that the book had a sad ending - 1. It's Auschwitz, scene of the biggest horror the world has even seen, 2. The book doesn't start with "once upon a time", 3. It's based on a true story so what a massive disservice this would be to lie at the end. I was gobsmacked that this was a criticism.

Another complaint was that the main characters could've just waited a few months to be free.....Are you serious?! Can you even begin to fathom the atrocities of Auschwitz. It was completely a reality that you could be shot, burned alive, tortured etc. any second. When the allies did arrive there was no way they'd keep all of those people alive to share their stories. It even says it several times in the story. It’s because of brave souls like them that we’re not all speaking German right now.

Now for my own feedback....

This was a fantastic book. Truly harrowing, heart breaking and gripping. It's so surreal to search for all of the characters in this book and to see their photographs and their own wiki pages.
I’m not a particularly emotional person but this book really got to me. Ellie Midwood does a truly amazing job of describing the reality for all of those poor people. She writes about this world in such detail you can imagine yourself there. The horror comes from realising that this isn’t in the slightest fictional and the cruel things that are done to the inmates, which you think how could an author come up with that, are real.
Another thing I really valued in this book was how Ellie writes about the SS commanders. In particular, those guards who have their humanity still. I’m sure we’ve all wondered if everyone who was a Nazi was actually evil or if they just went along with it to keep themselves alive. This book does a wonderful job of talking about SS Edward Lubush and how he really tries to be a good man despite the danger to himself and his family. It was a really refreshing change to read about the humanity of some of these German’s who were just as much prisoners as the inmates (albeit in considerably better conditions).

I don’t want to spoil the story too much but I would like to end this review by telling you to look at a photograph of Mally and Edek. No one can look at their photographs and not feel immense pride at how incredibly brave Mala ages 26, and Edek aged just 21 were. I know at 28 I don’t think I could be as brave as they were.

“Hell was empty because all the devils were in Auschwitz.”

Countless others have wanted someone to share Mala’s story as they reached out with memories from time spent in Auschwitz, but it is renowned author and Nazi Germany history expert, Ellie Midwood, a Jew herself, who picked up the torch and shed light on the first woman and first Jewish woman to escape from Auschwitz-Birkenau. Midwood’s novel, ‘The Girl Who Escaped From Auschwitz,’ records courage in the face of tragedy and bravery in the face of fear as two inmates plot and escape from the death camp.

Mala Zimetbaum’s fluency in several languages was the reason she was chosen as a runner and translator for the SS and progressed to a privileged prisoner allowed freedom of movement within the camp. The reality was that Mala was prisoner 19880, but to many, she was their saviour as she used her position to save lives by smuggling food. While in the camp, Mala met Edward (Edek) Galiński and fell in love. Edek, a man with a dream and an escape plan, was, in reality, inmate 531, a Polish political prisoner who became a fighter for underground resistance in the camp.

With anti-Semitism on the rise again across the world, Midwood thinks it’s important to bring awareness of it and remind us what can happen if we allow hatred to run free and permeate our society. Speaking in an interview recently, she shared “it all starts with small things but can quickly grow into something atrocious that can devour countless human lives.” Midwood masterfully and eloquently honours Zimetbaum with her historical fiction tribute to this miraculous woman, a living symbol of resistance for all the inmates.

Despite the difficult read at times, Midwood’s characterization helps us focus on two inmates who displayed heroism and love in the darkness right until the bitter end. Midwood gently reminds us that this can’t be read like any other love story; time was not on Mala and Edek’s side. You may get swept away in the gentleness and tender moments shared between two people, but before long Midwood will bring you back to the harsh reality of guarded life behind the barbed wire. She is to be commended for not diluting the events; illness, beatings, death, constant ash, blood, the constant smell of burnt flesh and singed hair, hunger and the ongoing experimentations by Joseph Mengele. Readers of her previous novel will notice the re-appearance of several inmates. Midwood reminds us to continue to be the light in the darkness and search deep to find the hero within.

“We must die standing up for something.”
“And what are we standing up for?”
“The most important thing there is. Freedom.”

To be published March 09, 2021, this is a must-read for all historical fiction lovers.

Thank you again to Ellie Midwood, Bookouture, and NetGalley for this superb advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz reads like fiction but is based on a true story. The events that takes place in the book are so unsettling and horrific, but within the despair, torture and hopelessness there are also much love, compassion and hope. All this is so well told by the author. The book is well-written and the characters and the surroundings are so well described. The book was difficult to put down and it will stay with me for a long time. If you like books like The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilkas's Journey and The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz then this is a book for you. Highly recommended.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and Bookouture for the opportunity to enjoy and share my honest opinion.

Based on a true story, The Girl Who Escaped From Auschwitz follows the lives of Mala and Edik who meet in the concentration camp and how they plan to escape.

This is well written but harrowing story, and while uncomfortable to read at times with the atrocities that happened, it is important they are included in the novel, so we do not forget.

After finishing the book, I felt compelled to research and learn more about the characters and what they experienced in the camps.

This is a very well-written story but since I'm an older reader (66) it did not appeal to me. To me the characters were universally naive and not realistic at all.

I hope this novel does for you, what it did for me. That just for a second, it makes you look around at your life, at your choices, and your surroundings. That it makes you question whether you are happy with who you are - truly happy - and if need be, I hope it gives you the courage to change.

*********

Hell was empty because all the devils were in Auschwitz.

While reading The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz, every few pages I would repeat this to myself, because it was so very difficult to imagine cruelty beyond what the Nazis were already inflicting. This novel takes place in the concentration camp of Auschwitz (including Birkenau) and follows the true stories of Mala Zimetbaum, that is, inmate 19880, and Edward Galinski, inmate 531.

Mala served as an interpreter for the Nazi military. She used her position to smuggle food to the starving prisoners, delegate them jobs which they could survive, and often gave them the very clothes of her back. Edward was a political prisoner, a member of the underground resistance, and one of the first people imprisoned in Auschwitz. Edward had a plan to escape.

When the two meet, together they commit the most heinous of crimes in the regime: igniting hope in the hell that the Nazi's had made on Earth.

Ellie Midwood painted a vivid picture of life in the camps with her novel. Her writing style was superb, because I no longer felt like I was reading and it was more like I was a bystander watching the events unfold. Many of the characters in her novel were all real people and she did an exceptional job of making their stories come alive.

I am glad that the author did not shy away from writing about the atrocities that occurred in the concentration camps. Because, even if it is hard to read them, we NEED to read them because, we need to REMEMBER. We need to remember how the world was brainwashed by one man's bigotry and how easy it is to lose our humanity. We need to remember so that something like this never, ever happens again.

What I really loved however, was the way the author showed the resilience and courage in her characters, their kindness, that no amount of torture could stamp out. Mala and Edward saved countless lives in the camp, and forged bonds of love and friendship even in the worst of hells. There is something to learn there, from their courage.

I shy away from grief in novels. I don't even watch any horror movies. But when it comes to novels centering around WWII, I make an exception: because, if more than a million people could be exterminated in that manner, many just because the Nazi's wanted to erase evidence of their crimes, the very LEAST we can do is read and remember the victims' stories.

The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz will doubtless go on to receive awards and prizes, and rightfully so. This is a novel that every single person should read. I don't know what lucky stroke of fate made Bookouture send an ARC of this novel to me, but I am very, very grateful to have had this privilege. I received an early copy of this novel from NetGalley.

The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz will be published on the 9th of March and I highly recommend you book your copy now. This novel is definitely a must-read of 2021.

This is the second book that I have read by Ellie. The first being the violinist of Austrich and it was so sad and poignant. I was not disappointed with this story as I knew it was based on the real horrors. I could not stop reading it, hoping there was to be a happy ending but unfortunately not. Thank you for allowing me to read it.

3.5 stars.

There are some grammatical issues and punctuation issues in places that made some parts a little hard to follow; I hope that gets cleaned up in the final edit.

The story itself: A close four stars, but this ended way too sad for my liking. I had so much hope for this to work out (given the title). The Holocaust is never an easy topic to read about. You feel sad and angry that humans could treat other humans that way. I think there was a bit of a unique perspective in this story as it talked about German officers with empathy and who seemed sickened by what they had to do.

I was way too sad that Mala and Edek get caught right on the border and are split up after they're so close to living the life they dreamed of. They both die a pretty kick ass death, Mala especially, and it's cool to see what they inspired, but you can't help but think, jeez guys, you couldn't have just waited for another few months? I feel like they both would have survived if they hadn't have run.

Sometimes the love story got on my nerves, especially in the beginning before they had hardly spoken, spent any time together, or been physical in any way. It does pull together mid-way through and you can understand why they cling to each other and what draws them to one another.

All in all a good read, and it made me want to find out more about the real Mala.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC :)

A new standalone novel about Mala Zitembaum who inspired so many prisoners living in the horrors of Auschwitz. If you have read the Violinist of Auschwitz you made recognize some people from that book.

This book grabbed me from the first page to the last. I had to stop myself from skipping to the last page of the book to see what happened to Mala and Edward.

While it portrays the horrors happening every minute in Auschwitz, it also shows the humanity, the help and hope some people gave to each other. And it shows even in the darkest of days there is light and hope from the smallest gesture.

The story is very inspiring, sad, beautiful and hopeful all at the same time. You will find yourself rooting for Edward and Mala. It is a story that will give you goosebumps and all the feels.

This book is not an easy read. It is heartbreaking but hopeful at the same time. It is beautifully written., but keep your tissues handy. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

Ellie Midwood is a master storyteller. Her books have the power to grip you from the first page and never let go until you are sitting reading the last pages with tears streaming down your face. She never shies away from telling the story with truth and depth and this of course can make for very harrowing reading at times but you simply cannot put the book down. She makes you commit to her characters and their stories and this is what is exceptional in her writing. This book is a master class in a writing historical novels. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

My heartfelt thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this truly powerful book.

Mala is in the Birkenau camp. She's been smuggling things around the camps. Food for the hungry. Nails and sardine tins for the men, who planned to make bombs to escape when the time was right. Edek is in the Auschwitz camp. After seeing an SS officer kill a man by stamping on his head, he's determined to escape.

A very moving story of what happened in the concentration camps. The horrors they each faced day in, day out. What they had to do just to survive is horrendous. Based on the true accounts of Mala this certainly is a book you need to read so that we keep remembering the unnecessary barbaric loss of so many innocent lives. Beautifully written, tissues needed

It is hard to know how to write a review to justify the emotions evoked by a novel of this topic and kind.
But this is the easiest review of a holocaust narrative I have ever had to write - because there was not anything I did not like about this book!
Many holocaust narratives I've read (which is quite a lot), shy away from the real gruesome truth of millions of tortured, abused and murdered innocent people, perhaps worrying about putting readers off their book. Midwood hasn't done that. She has honoured these victims and survivors by writing the horrifying truth; the blood, the tears, the illness and the disgusting experiments of Joseph Mengele.
The reoccurring motif of ash covering the camp and the smell of death, makes this book one of the most power holocaust narratives for me in terms of imagery and created a ghastly reality that I could not escape from while reading.
Yes, the romance between Edek and Mala is the stand out plot of this story, but for me, the stand out feature that must really be commended is Midwood's attention to, and prioritisation of details. From the mathematics of how many prisoners can be cremated at any one time, to the clear addressing of the different types of prisoners in Auschwitz, Midwood presents a stark, terrifying truth of the scale of this regime. The fact that it was made clear not only Jews perished in Auschwitz, but political prisoners, soviets, criminals. People from Poland, Germany, Hungary. Men, women, children, whole families!
This book does not shy from the unpleasant, the vivid, the disturbing or the extent of the truth. No book will ever allow us to truly see all the horrors that people suffered, or ever truly experience such hell, but this one came closest. It was the most impactful and distressing holocaust narrative I have found, and everyone should read it.
and if by the epilogue you are not crying your eyes out into your cup of tea, go back and read it again.

"The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz" by Ellie Midwood
Release Date: 3.9.2021

Mala Zimetbaum, inmate 19880, is a Polish-Jew. Due to her fluency in many languages, she works as an interpreter for the Nazis. She shares her extra food privileges to help feed prisoners and shares her clothing with them.

Edek, inmate 530, is a camp veteran and Polish political prisoner. He is also in the underground Resistance, and he has been working on an escape plan.

After Mala and Edek meet, Edward shares his plan of escape, and the two promise to escape together.

I was drawn into the story immediately. I felt all the emotions. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. Ms. Midwood completed so much research to make this story come alive.

Thank you to @NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleybooks #girlwhoescapedfromauschwitz #worldwariifiction #2021bookreleases #elliemidwood #historicalfiction #2021historicalfiction

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The Girl Who Escaped From Aushcwitz' by Ellie Midwood.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication date 9th March 2021.

This is the second book I have read by this author. The other book I read by Ellie is called 'The Violinist Of Aushcwitz' which I also highly recommend.

I was originally drawn to this book by its beautiful eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis. I also loved Ellie Midwood's 'The Violinist Of Aushcwitz' so am hoping it is as good. It also stated in the synopsis that fans of 'The Tattoist of Aushcwitz' will love it. I am a huge fan of that book so am looking forward to see if it lives up to this. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of a prologue, 37 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based in the Auschwitz, Kraków, Poland 🇵🇱.

This book is written in third person perspective and the main protagonists are Edek and Mala Zimetbaum. The benefits of third person perspective are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out on anything.

Well, what can I say but wow!!! This story is definitely not going to leave my head anytime soon. Firstly I must congratulate Ellie Midwood for yet another extraordinary novel that seriously needs to be made into a movie which I assure would be best selling!!!

This book is very powerful and extremely well written. It is devastatingly heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. The storyline of this book is based on a true story which is another thing that drew me to read it. It is absolutely rammed with emotions that will make you smile, cry and laugh on the roller-coaster ride to hell that is Aushcwitz. Nothing is left out and the author has done an immense amount of research and brings Edek and Mala's story to life. Mala and Edek are such powerful, strong and kind hearted heroes and I am looking forward to reading more about them. I had never heard of either before reading this but read 'The Violinist Of Aushcwitz', 'Celia' s Journey', 'The tattooist of Aushcwitz' and 'The librarian of Aushcwitz', both of which I enjoyed so when I seen this I was intrigued to discover the ongoing of Aushcwitz through another person's eyes. I have now also added many books to my wish list thanks to Ellie, her own and ones that she recommends at the end of this story.

This book did not disappoint. Some people believe that these stories should not be written but I am a strong believer that these victims earned the right for their stories to be told and to not be forgotten and this book does just that. I loved discovering not just Edek and Mala's stories but those who surrounded them also. I also loved reading more about characters I met in 'The Violinist Of Auschwitz'. This amazing group of people who supported and lifted each other up during these dark times and helping them see the light are absolutely... Words can't really describe but I will go with angelic. This book was very hard to read as a whole but there were certain parts that will stay with me for a very long time and that we're soul destroying. What the Nazi's did to these innocent people makes me absolutely sick to my soul. The poor children and parents watching each other suffering especially. The heroism of both Mala and Edek until the bitter end.

Again congratulations Ellie Midwood on all your research and for writing this amazing story of bot Mala and Edek who deserved to have their stories told in a way that did them justice and you have done that. I would say this book is on par with the likes of 'The' diary of Anne Frank' which left me with the same feelings your novel has of not even more emotional.

Overall a heart wrenching, absolutely beautifully devastating story of two lesser known heroes of Aushcwitz.

Genres covered in this novel include War Story, Romance Novel and Jewish History amongst others.

I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of Ellie Midwood, The Tattooist of Aushcwitz, The Librarian of Aushcwitz and anyone interested in Auschwitz and its history.

342 pages.

This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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Mala Zimetbaum is prisoner 19880 in Auschwitz and she uses her work position in the concentration camp to help save as many other prisoners as possible. Edward, a camp veteran and political prisoner, needs her help and finds her in camp. Together they plan their escape from Auschwitz and fall in love along the way.
This is based on the true story of Mala who was the first woman to escape from Auschwitz.
The book is incredibly well written and really does justice to the story of Mala.
It is moving, harrowing and yet intercepted with moments of humanity and “normal every day” life. I connected with all of the characters, whether it is willing on Mala and Edwards escape, or despising the SS officers working in the camp.
The end had me in tears and it is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

Another amazing, difficult to read but had to continue book due to the horrific actions of the Nazis. The two main characters shone as an example of those who do not let anyone murder their spirit despite the lenghty tortures they inflict or the soul stealing environment they construct around them. Had me in tears several times and in awe at the strength of this man and woman. Another true winner from Ellie

THE GIRL WHO ESCAPED FROM AUSCHWITZ by ELLIE MIDWOOD is a heart wrenching WW11 novel based on Mala Zimetbaum's true story. While it is impossible to "enjoy" such a book it is most definitely a worthwhile and inspirational read and one I highly recommend. What incredible bravery and compassion Mala shows as she tries to alleviate suffering in the face of such evil, and what a beautiful love story!
Mala is Jewish, but, due to her fluency in many languages, she has a "privileged" position as an interpreter. She gives away most of her food and even her clothes to the desperate, starving, freezing people in the camp.
Edek is a Polish political prisoner.
Both Edek and Mala are very loyal to the friends they have made in the camp and are part of the resistance.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Bookouture. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a h historical fiction set in Auschwitz. The tag line said this was a heart pounding, page turning novel and it is correct. I read This in one day and it was a well researched novel about life in Auschwitz.....not for the faint of heart. Love ds the characters and their will to live and survive. 5 stars