Chapter 32 - The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Another book which was at the top of best selling books this year was The Tattooist of Auschwitz. It was an interesting, novelized account of a true story based on interviews conducted by Heather Morris, the author. To me the book reads like a series of interviews and, for my part, I think there have been many other World War II stories which are better written.

If you liked The Tattoist of Auschwitz, here are some other selections you might try.

The Prisoner's Wife by Maggie Brookes - This work of fiction is based on a true story. Izabela, a Czech farm girl and Bill, a prisoner of war have secretly married and are on the run from the Nazis. Izabela, dressed as a man, is mistaken for a POW and she and her husband are sent to a POW camp. Their life there with fellow POWs is a remarkable story.

The Dutch Wife by Ellen Keith - Marijke de Graaf and her husband, part of the Dutch resistance in WWII, are arrested and deported to concentration camps in Germany. Marijke is given a terrible choice: to suffer a slow death in the labor camp or to join the camp brothel. At the camp she meets Karl Muller, and the meeting changes both of them forever.

Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini - Chiaverini is best known for her books about quilts so this story of a young American graduate student married to a German economist is a quite different for her. Still, she is always an excellent story teller and this book, based on a true story of German resistance, is hard to put down.

Children of the Stars by Mario Escobar - Two young boys swept up in the Jewish roundup in Paris escape to find their parents in the south of France in 1942. A hero's journey story combined with a thriller, this book is a worthy read.

A Bookshop in Berlin: The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman's Harrowing Escape from the Nazis by Francoise Frenkel - This is a memoir by Frenkel originally published in 1945 as Rien où poser sa tête (No Place to Lay One’s Head), it was discovered in south France in 2010. The book details Frankel's escape to Switzerland.

Any similar books you've enjoyed? Let me know.