Beautifully and heartbreakingly told, the story of Ana and Ester had me captivated and it was hard to put the book down. The writing was fantastic, you couldn’t help but feel along with them, and war mentally and emotionally at all they faced. It was descriptive and had extraordinary depth in the setting, characters, and unfolding thought process of being under the conditions that they endured. It gave such a realistic understanding of how difficult hope was, but how necessary.

It is unfathomable to me that 3000 babies were delivered by the real midwife in Auschwitz-Birkenau and just as unfathomable how few of those mothers got to actually keep their babies. The concept of tattooing the babies to match their mothers was absolutely brilliant and yet horrific that it was needed.

I’ve read about the Lebensborn program but did not know it also happened at the camps. I can’t imagine as a mother, how you deal with wanting your baby to survive but warring with knowing them staying is essentially a death sentence, while also having them ripped away from you to live with a Nazi and to never see again is a death sentence in its own right.

Really loved this one and will be reading more from the author.