SYNOPSIS

Auschwitz, 1943: I stroke my beautiful baby’s hair. It’s a miracle it’s blonde because it will keep her alive, it will keep her safe. Soon they will come and take Pippa out of Auschwitz-Birkenau – and out of my arms. But while there’s life, there’s hope I might find my daughter again…

An incredible story of one woman’s courage and determination to reunite her family in the aftermath of surviving Auschwitz.

1945, Ester Pasternak walked out of the gates of Auschwitz, barely alive. She survived against devastating odds, but her heartbreaking journey is only just beginning. In the camp, Ester gave birth to a tiny fair-haired infant, only for her precious baby to be snatched from her and taken to a German family. Now the war is over, Ester longs to find her little girl.

But Europe is in chaos, Jewish families have been torn apart, and everyone is desperately searching for their loved ones. In every orphanage and hospital she visits, Ester searches the faces of tear-stained toddlers; each mop of blonde hair and pair of blue eyes she sees sets her heart racing…

But as the months and the years tick by, the possibility of finding her daughter shrinks smaller and smaller. And Ester starts to wonder if little Pippa is even safe or whether the miracle that saved her has now put her in even more danger?

Will Ester ever be able to find the child whose tattoo matches her own? Or is she already too late…

REVIEW

One of my favorite things about this series is how historical facts that I learned as a child fall into place as they are used in context of the lives of Stuart’s well-developed characters and storylines.  With each book, I am gaining more respect for those who survived the atrocities of Auschwitz and then endeavored to live a normal life during the Cold War.

This is the second book in the Women of War series. It can be read as a standalone but the experience is richer by having read the first book in the series, The Midwife of Auschwitz.

NOTE: The subject matter lends itself to some graphic sections.