It had me captivated from start to finish. Initially, I found myself intrigued by the enigmatic Helena and Franz, questioning their motives and intentions. However, as the story unfolded, I discovered the profound depth behind their actions. Surprisingly, this narrative about the Holocaust managed to restore my faith in humanity—an unexpected outcome. Through her masterful storytelling, Ms. Midwood achieves this remarkable feat. The characters are meticulously crafted, and the intricate and emotionally charged plot keeps you on the edge of your seat. This book is an absolute page-turner, seamlessly blending complexity and heart-wrenching moments.

I adored this love story from beginning to end! Such hope and love in a place of such atrocities. You were drawn in to the characters, rooting for happy but knowing it might be unlikely. If you are historical fiction fan this is definitely a book for you! I cannot wait to read more from this author!

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley

Ellie Midwood’s The Girl in the Striped Dress is a phenomenal (while heartbreaking) novel about a Jewish woman, Helena, who falls in love with and then marries Franz Daiker, an SS officer who was her guard at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The novel’s chapters alternate between the years during which Helena and Franz were at the concentration camp and the 1947 trial of Franz in the Denazification Court. Layered into the plot is Dr. Hoffman, an American psychiatrist, as he evaluates Helena while she shares her testimony regarding her husband.

The characters are so well developed, and the author takes such care to treat this horrifying part of world history with the gravity it deserves. While this is classified as historical fiction, Midwood has clearly done extensive research so that the historical (and educational) aspect trumps the fictional. The book’s messages of love being stronger than hate and of the need for survivors of such despicable acts to share their experiences so that the history cannot be denied are much needed in this day and age.

This is one of my favorite books of the last year despite its heavy subject matter. Thank you to Ellie Midwood, Bookouture, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for this book.

I felt the writing was done well in this book but there was just something missing for me and I couldn't get into it and enjoy it as much as I hoped I would.

Gosh what a great book, awful subject matter and very sad and dark in parts but I gobbled it up in no time and would defo read more like this one.

I am a big lover of WWII fiction so naturally I gobbled this up quickly. This was a unique take and I really enjoyed how historically accurate the author was.

The Girl in the Striped Dress, like all books set during the Holocaust, was heartbreaking and at times hard to read. On the other hand, it was also quite beautiful in parts. While the book focuses on the Holocaust and Auschwitz, it's ultimately a love story between a Jewish inmate and a SS soldier.

I really appreciate how Midwood discussed which parts were fact and which were fiction at the end of the book, also.

I don't want to say too much and give anything away, but I do recommend reading this one if you have any interest in books set during WWII.

Stockholm's syndrome in this book is well justified. The horrific acts executed by Nazi was surreal and it made me emotional to it. Love the MC, despite of having a PTSD, it doesn't mean she's weak. She's a fighter and I like it! It was pain to read as I deeply symphatize to MC as she was scarred for whole life. The portrayal of war crime is just mentioned very detail and this will left reader to realize how evil Nazi was.

This is a story of Helena, a Jewish woman sent to Auschwitz, and a SS officer who fell in love with her. I’ve read many many WWII stories and each one tells a different event that happened. It’s so important to read WWII books to learn everything that happened so it can never repeat itself.

In the author’s note at the end it is explained what events really took place and which ones were invented for the story. Much of the story is real. I enjoyed reading this book and learning more about this time. If you love WWII historical fiction, you will enjoy this book.

I was given a copy of The Girl in the striped dress by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The novel is set in Auschwitz. Helena works in the Kanda sorting through the items left by prisoners. A great story of survival.

A different telling of the horrors of Auschwitz.

Helena is "The Girl In The Striped Dress" and it is her testimony which guides us through the book. But, this is the first instance I have read, where we experience Nazi WW2 through a serving SS officer.

This book tells both sides of the story......through Jewish Helena and through the eyes of SS officer Franz Dahler. Eyes which are open to the injustice, racism and xenophobia. Who needed to toe the line the best he could when serving, hiding his betrayal of his own kind, for the love of a Jew.

While we can forgive the current generations for the Hilter driven atrocities, Ellie's telling of this truth based story, ensures we never forget an across the lines love story. Hope springs eternal in the most bebaric circumstance.
I was instantly captivated by the theatre of narrating this story.....a Nazi crime's trial taking place after WW2. Unlike a lot of books, this fantastic story will stay with me...heartbreaking, tear enducing and a fascinating and emotional insite into the monstrous SS.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and Ellie Midwood for my copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the arc of The Girl in the Striped Dress by Ellie Midwood.

If you loved her other book/s then you'll love this!

5 STARS- This follows Auschwitz in 1942 and Helena who steps off a cattle cart into Auschwitz and she is sentenced to death and has only 24 hours to live as she was sentenced to death for a crime in which she did not commit.. falsely accused...! One officers ends up taking Helena to one of the guards she feared the worse but he told Helena to Serenade him as such for his birthday so she meets Franz.. and after singing for him he then ends up offering her some cake which is the first thing in which she has ate for days! she then orders that her life be saved so her fate has changed! Then what ends up happening is love between them two..

HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

I didn’t enjoy this book anywhere near as much I did previous novels by this author. I found it a lot slower than usual and found it hard to keep picking up. I just couldn’t get into it and, unfortunately, couldn’t finish it. I will continue to read books by this author, however, as I really enjoyed the previous two I have read.

I will not rate this on Goodreads, or share on IG, as I didn’t finish it.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a gripping read. I found I wanted to keep reading on to see what happens next. An unexpected read.

Five stars more if possible, Ellie has a way of getting into the characters so you feel like you were right there in hell with them. Fantastic scene setting, characterization and real history. Highly recommended

The author tells the reader immediately that this is based on a true story. There are true details at both the front and back of the book. The book goes back and forth in time. The setting is either Auschwitz or Germany after the war. The book is about an unusual couple, Helena, a Jewish camp survivor and Franz, her former prison guard.

A WW2 tale is never an easy read. These books always leave the reader with a haunting feeling. And The Girl In the Striped Dress is no exception.
A wonderfully written book with excellent characters and a plot that stays with the readers even after reading it!

Just when I think that I have a handle on how treacherous and dehumanizing Nazi concentration camps were during WWII, I find another perspective in a historical fiction novel that shows me differently.
I now believe that there will never be an end to the depths of the inhumanity of those camps. The inmates were tortured in every sense of the word, and as the cunning of the German leaders is revealed, so is their utter lack of humanity.
In the case of this book, I learned that one of the cruelest forms of torture was psychological. And the author did an excellent job of detailing the methods without being overtly obvious about it.
As mentioned in the introduction, the plot is based on a true story (for the most part). The Kanada work detail was tasked with sorting the meager possessions of the people who came to the camp on the transports.
It was a cushy assignment by all reports, and the author describes the “benefits” of working in Kanada. However, even if on the surface other inmates felt that working there was preferable, it is difficult to imagine the psychological impact of such tasks.
In Helena, we get a sense of just how infuriating and sickening such assignments were. On the one hand, a woman got to live and even got a few perks out of it – certainly preferable to forced hard labor or death.
However, they were also expected to sort the clothing and belongings of people who were just like them – taken to the camps with the intention of extermination. So, can someone truly enjoy being alive while being constantly reminded that it could end in a second?
The psychological impact is huge: some women started to believe that they were special, and embraced their bits of freedom, forgetting their place. Others kept their heads down and were just thankful to be alive, even as they had to sort the personal items of dead people.
Talk about existential crises of the largest magnitude.
The author is thoughtful about all of this but adds a twist that could have seemed hokey or contrived. An SS officer falling in love with an inmate working in Kanada detail? Preposterous!
But as I read the story of Helena and Franz, I realized that the author was using a familiar theme in WWII historical fiction (hope) and presenting in a different manner.
To me, their story is an illustration that humanity does still exist even in the darkest of places, and that the heart wants what it wants. I know that sounds trite, but if ever there was a situation where it applied this is it.
From the powerful descriptions of the Kanada detail to the odd (yet sometimes charming) courtship, I was totally taken in by Helena and Franz’s story. The interspersed chapters (set in 1947) were a good reminder of how complicated the immediate post-war years were.
Truthfully, you have to allow yourself to be immersed in this one. I can’t pinpoint specific events without giving away where the story leads. But it does present several aspects to consider, including the strength of survivor’s guilt, the complicated nature of the camp system, the psychology of the inmates and their oppressors, and many more.
But most importantly, I think it illustrates that people need to be looked at as individuals. Status, uniform, rank…none of those are what really make a person. Helena and Franz eventually realized that in each other – if more people had been like them, history would be different.

An absolutely gripping, spine tingling, and wonderful story. The manner in which this love was created was not ideal by any means, but the love shared between Helena and Franz was true. A sad story filled with hope that one should read and read again.

Definitely mind-blowing I didn't expect this story, when I first started reading I was a little lost as I didn't understand what was happening but after a few chapters I was completely hooked and I was very immersed to know everything about Helena and Franz.

The story of Helena and Franz it's the first story that I read of is kind. I've never read of the Denazification Court or its cases, this was a first for me, Franz and Helena are testifying in a court to prove that they're really telling their truth about their situation, but not everybody is convinced that Andrej Novák, an Auschwitz inmate thinks he knows the real truth behind the relationship of Franz and Helena and is determined to prove them wrong.

The Girl in the Striped Dress talks about the story of Helena and Franz how everything started and how they're now facing a trial to prove if Franz is really not a terrible person as Andrej seems to believe.

what I really love about this book was that I really didn't know where it was going, it was not the typical story where there were constantly focusing on the terrible situations that we all know that happened during those times, for me was more about the strength, the trust and the love some of them had and wanted to share to keep striving and feel alive.

Helena's sister is a huge key in this book, something terrible happened to her that she is not convinced either about their situation but time will show some light about hers and her sister situation

the other SS officers as usual were disgusting, always treating them terribly not having any kindness or empathy at all but Franz was different, from the beginning we could see that even if was not clear where his character was coming from but the kindness was there hiding to his colleagues and some of the other inmates.

the story permeates between the past the story of how everything started to a more recent days after the war. I really enjoy the court parts.

The Girl in the striped dress, it's a great story, a great book very different from what I've read something that really will keep you wanting more.