The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor, 322 pages

I happen to love WWII related fiction. I picked this book up thanks to a recommendation from an online book club that I participate in. I was hooked from page one. Alternating chapters with different time periods normally bugs me but it really worked with this story. It's an interesting and intriguing tale about something I hadn't heard of before...stamp engraving. I know it doesn't sound that interesting but I was so fascinated by it.There's an AHA moment in this book. When I got it I texted a co-worker that I wasn't coming to work until I finished the book (I finished in time for work). I also instantly recommended this book to a ton of people. Plus I instantly put it on hold for patrons at my library that I knew would love it. I will definitely read everything this author writes from now.

Mischling by Affinity Konar, 344 pages

This is a World War II novel that tells the story of identical twin girls, Pearl and Stasha.  They are sent to Auschwitz, along with their mother and grandfather, in September 1944.

As they come off the train, Dr. Josef Mengele selects the girls for "the Zoo," the area of the camp used for his experiments.

Mischling was the legal term used in Nazi Germany to denote a person who had both "Aryan" and Jewish ancestry, but the term was never explained in the book.

There is not just death and horror in this book, there is some surviving and triumphing also.  I do have to admit though, I am glad I am done with this one.

Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz (YA novel) Truman Nominee 2015-2016 260 p.

This was a very moving book that should appeal to some reluctant readers.  Yanek is a happy 10- year-old Jewish boy living in Krakow when the Germans invade.  Life as he knew it comes to an end.  His parents are torn away from him.  He is sent to concentration camp after concentration camp after concentration camp.  He is beaten, starved, and worked nearly to death.  Death becomes a constant companion.  After 6 years of horror at the hands of the Nazis,  the allies invade and the prisoners are freed.  My favorite quote from the book comes when Yanek receives his prisoner tattoo: " B-3087.  That's what the Nazis carved into my skin.  B for Birkenau, 3087 for my prisoner number.  That was the mark they put on me, a mark I would have for as long as I lived.  B-3087.  That was how I was to them,  Not Yanek Gruener, son of Oskar and Mina.  Not Yanek Gruener of ....Karkow.  Not Yanek Gruener who loved books and science and American movies.  I was prisoner B-3087.  But I was alive." And Yanek did live.  He and his wife Ruth live in Brooklyn and travel the country to speak about the Holocaust and the importance of rememering,  For you see, this may be a novel, but Yanek is a real person.  He did survive the Holocaust and this book was written with his blessing.

Night by Elie Wiesel, 115 pages

“Night” is an autobiographical account of a teenage Elie Wiesel growing up during Nazi Germany. It is a terrifying story, in which, he struggles to survive alongside his father in a Nazi death camp. His fight for survival and sanity is a singular story, and the reader can empathize with his struggles to give a voice to those who did not survive.

The story begins with Wiesel, not unlike many teenage boys, dreaming of a future he imagines will soon be his. Unfortunately, his parents and siblings are living in a false belief of security while the world around them is drowning in chaos. As he retells his story, we learn what happens to him and his family on this unthinkable journey, and how he has spent a lifetime trying to make sense of the Nazi’s atrocities.  He even questions the choices he had to make in order to survive.

This personal account is horrifying, unimaginable, and immensely sad. I read his story in one evening, and although I knew he had survived, there was so many of those he loved that did not.

“Night” is recommended by the Oprah Book Club as a must read. I recommend this book for anyone who loves to read the words of a truly remarkable author who bares his tortured soul with his readers.