Three Sisters

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The descriptions, the recounting of events and the horrors of the death camps made this an emotional journey and I felt their despair and heartache. Born in Slovakia, the siblings make a promise to their father that they will always stick together and help each other. He knows he will be having a surgery the next day, and wants them to promise him one thing, a promise that they will always take care of each other, no matter what happens. When they are little girls, Cibi, Magda and Livia make a promise to their father – that they will stay together, no matter what.

I remember the first time she told me where she found the knife – in the camp – after asking her where the knife was from, and I said, ‘Cool. The three sisters stuck together, against all odds, just like they promised their father years before. A few years ago, I read the Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris, the story of Lale a Slovakian Jew in Auschwitz forced to permanently mark his fellow prisoners.At the heart of this unbearably sad, but ultimately uplifting novel is the unbreakable bond shared between three sisters . The daily brutalities that the evil and hateful guards showed the prisoners were more than anyone should be made to endure. It was absolutely ram packed with mystery, secrets, jealousy, death , revenge, heartbreak, tension, suspense and absolutely everything you could ask for in a gripping and moody thriller. For the most of it, I found I was slumped over my kindle, looking forward to reaching the conclusion.

Magda is saved by a doctor in their home town who keeps her in hospital for safety as long as he can before she has to be released.

This is one of those epic storylines that really does show how one moment in time can change so many lives! There aren't many Auschwitz/Birkenau survivors left but Heather Morris was able to talk with Livia, Magda, and their families, in 2019/2020, about their experiences before, during and after their lives in the concentration camps. Hell had escaped its moorings and risen to earth in the shape of Auschwitz and Birkenau and all the other camps, . All three sisters found it impossible to eradicate all that they had witnessed and lived through from their thoughts, dreams and daily lives.

At the same time, there’s Magda’s fears for her sisters, how she copes with not knowing what had happened to them or where they were, the guilt she felt about not being with them and for not keeping their promise. Still, Alex doesn't have any problems finding this information from company gossip without Damian discussing this with anybody.This last book showed the main characters escaping in the final days of the war, spending a brief time with Allied Forces, and then finding their way from postwar anti-Semitic Soviet Europe to the new Jewish homeland of Israel. Note that while Morris’ three novels are presented as a trilogy, they are essentially standalone books. I absolutely adored Heather's two previous novels - The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey - so I was more than excited to see she'd written another book. And as hard it is to read of the suffering, it is also uplifting to learn of life after the war filled with children and grandchildren.

The end was filled with some events, but it was predictable enough and the readers can feel that something was not told but could be guessed. You might find yourself rooting for one sister over another, but that is okay … I certainly did without guilt!

It was not my favorite of her books but I appreciated that Heather Morris was able to share the sister’s story with her readers. With sections divided by years rather than perspective, each sister’s point-of-view is explored in most chapters, sometimes on the same page, resulting in the “head-hopping” problem. It shows the difficulties they face in coming to terms with what they had been through, each dealing with survivor’s guilt, Cibi losing her faith, unable to pray.