![Three Sisters (The Tattooist of Auschwitz #3)](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1633783321l/59245696._SX98_.jpg)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a moving and powerful novel based on the true story of the three Meller sisters - Cibi, Magda and Livia. When the sisters are very young, they make a solemn promise to their father that they will stay together, no matter what: a promise they keep through the most harrowing circumstances imaginable.
After their father dies, the girls are raised by their mother and grandfather in their hometown in Slovakia. As WWII begins, the Jewish Mellers gradually have their freedoms eroded, culminating in the Nazis ordering fifteen-year-old Livia to report to a "working camp". Cibi volunteers to go with her, while Magda remains behind as she is ill with a fever in hospital.
Cibi and Livia are sent to Auschwitz, their love for each other the only thing keeping them alive in the midst of witnessing the daily horrors around them. Many of their fellow prisoners die of disease, starvation, and exposure, and every day there is the added threat of being "selected" for the gas chambers. Any sign of weakness is an immediate death sentence.
Magda stays "safe" in Slovakia for two years, hiding in neighbours' houses and in the forest when the Nazis come calling, before she is eventually caught, together with her mother and grandfather. Shortly afterwards, Magda is separated from them, and their fate is unknown for some time. She is then sent to Auschwitz, where she is reunited with her sisters. Not long afterwards, there is also a short, and ultimately tragic, reunion with the family.
Even when rumours start circulating of the Nazis retreating and hope of rescue becomes a possibility, the sisters' trials are not over, and it is many months before they are truly free to begin a new life in Israel.
At the end of the novel is some background, photographs and the story of how the author came to meet the sisters, which is astonishing in itself. I can't imagine anyone doing a better job of bringing this story to life than Heather Morris.
This is an incredible story of survival, courage and love. It's not an easy read, but a very important one. It makes you think about how monstrous human beings can be to one another, but also about the resilience and strength of the human spirit. I won't forget it any time soon.
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