A Bounty of Books

Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar is a fictionalized version of the real life story of Helene Hannemann, a German mother who chose to go to a concentration camp, and ultimately death, with her Romani family.

When she was young, Helene, a young German woman, married a man of Romani heritage and had five children with him. Though she hoped to escape the notice of the Nazis, in 1943 they came to take her husband and children to Auschwitz because of their Romani heritage. Since she was purely German, she was allowed to stay free. However, she would not allow her husband and children to go without her, so she voluntarily went to Auschwitz with them.

Helene was able to receive slightly better treatment in the camp because of her background as a nurse as well as her German heritage. Dr. Josef Mengele asked her to run a daycare for the Romani children in the camp. Helene uses every ounce of courage and "favored" status she can to create a bit of light for the children in such a dark time. Despite this strange relationship with Dr. Mengele, in the end, her whole family is put to death not long before the Allies liberate the camp.

Escobar does an amazing job of telling the story of Helene Hannemann in a easy to related to fashion. Auschwitz Lullaby flows extremely well and is so compelling it is hard to put down. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the daily life of concentration camp prisoners, as well as anyone who enjoys stories of human courage and perseverance.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookLook book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

A Fifty Year Silence, by Miranda Richmond Mouillot, is the story of a granddaughter's search for the reason behind the breakup of her grandparent's relationship. As a child, there was such a separation between her grandparents, that it wasn't until she was twelve years old that the thought that her grandparents once knew one another, much less had once been married, crossed her mind. No one knew what happened between them, and her grandparents hadn't spoken in over fifty years. The feelings between them were so strong, that her grandfather wouldn't set foot on the same continent as her grandmother.

Mouillot grew up extremely close to her grandmother, and couldn't fathom never knowing about this huge part of her life. Her natural inclination toward history led her to figure out what happened. Mouillot moved to France after college to live in a house her grandparents bought together in a small village in France. She thought this would help her search for the truth. Using nothing more than her grandparent's official refugee documents from WWII and the few memories she could get her grandparents to part with, she pieced together the story neither one of them could, or would, remember.

Mouillot is an engaging writer. She easily draws the reader into the mystery surrounding her family history. Weaving together the past and her present search for her, Mouillot makes the reader feel as if he/she is a fly on the wall as she searches. I felt her frustration as she hit dead end after dead end. As she finally the realized the truth, I felt some of the wallop that she must have felt as she realized her family's history and happiness was simply another causality of war.

I recommend A Fifty Year Silence to any person interested in family history, the effect of WWII on European Jews who managed to stay out of concentration camps, or anyone interested in how the past influences and informs the present.

Blogging for Books provided this book to me for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

Samson: A Savior Will Rise by Shawn Hoffman is one of the more difficult books I've ever read, because of the content. Most of the novel, which is based on true events, takes place in Auschwitz. Dr. Josef Mengele and his experiments are largely featured and several of the main character's family members are involved in them. The main character, Samson, and his family are amalgamations of people who were actually in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. The story follows Samson and his family from the incident that sends them to the camp, through the eventual demise of many of the characters, and the subsequent end of the war.

Hoffman does a good job of blending fact and fiction. While it is understood that the characters and the circumstances that brought them to the camp are fictional, everything else, including everything that happens in the camp is based on fact. When a particularly hard to believe incident occurs, Hoffman provides documentation that the incident actually happened in the form of a footnote at the bottom of the page. As familiar as I felt I was with the atrocities of the concentration camps, I was not prepared for some of the details of experiments Dr. Mengele performed. I appreciate the fact that Hoffman represented the historical figures with attention to historical detail.

The Holocaust in general, and what Dr. Mengele did in particular are difficult topics to discuss. Hoffman's creation of a fictional family that experiences these things actually helped ground them in reality for me. Some of them are so horrific and beyond human thought that had I read about them on their own, without the association of the narrative, I don't know that they would've had the same impact. Hoffman does a great job of providing historical fact while also telling a compelling story that raises important questions about faith and hope. While it is a difficult read that requires a mature reader, I would recommend Samson: A Savior Will Rise to anyone interested in WWII, the Holocaust, or simply important questions about how faith and hope are shaped among the worst of circumstances.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255