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'Her beauty saved her life - and condemned her.
'Cilka is just sixteen years old when she is taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, in 1942. The Commandant at Birkenau, Schwarzhuber, notices her long beautiful hair, and forces her separation from the other women prisoners. Cilka learns quickly that power, even unwillingly given, equals survival.
'After liberation, Cilka is charged as a collaborator for sleeping with the enemy and sent to Siberia. But what choice did she have? And where did the lines of morality lie for Cilka, who was sent to Auschwitz when still a child?
'In a Siberian prison camp, Cilka faces challenges both new and horribly familiar, including the unwanted attention of the guards. But when she makes an impression on a woman doctor, Cilka is taken under her wing. Cilka begins to tend to the ill in the camp, struggling to care for them under brutal conditions.
'Cilka finds endless resources within herself as she daily confronts death and faces terror. And when she nurses a man called Ivan, Cilka finds that despite everything that has happened to her, there is room in her heart for love.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
'Over the last couple of months, one could observe a real flood of publications about Auschwitz on the book market. However, these are not scientific literature, but literary products, which, given their form and subject matter, ought to be classified as historical novels. [...] The phenomenon became the inspiration for writing this text, the aim of which is not only to review contemporary novels but above all to assess the phenomenon of this peculiar "fashion for Auschwitz literature" on the example of several selected works.'
Source: Introduction.
'Heather Morris’s debut novel was a runaway success when it came out in January 2018. The Melbourne-based New Zealand writer wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz after meeting and befriending the man, Lali Solokov, on whose story the book is based. It’s a love story: Solokov met his wife, Gita Furman, and fell for her, when, as a prisoner-functionary, he tattooed her number on her forearm.' (Introduction)
'Heather Morris’s debut novel was a runaway success when it came out in January 2018. The Melbourne-based New Zealand writer wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz after meeting and befriending the man, Lali Solokov, on whose story the book is based. It’s a love story: Solokov met his wife, Gita Furman, and fell for her, when, as a prisoner-functionary, he tattooed her number on her forearm.' (Introduction)
'Over the last couple of months, one could observe a real flood of publications about Auschwitz on the book market. However, these are not scientific literature, but literary products, which, given their form and subject matter, ought to be classified as historical novels. [...] The phenomenon became the inspiration for writing this text, the aim of which is not only to review contemporary novels but above all to assess the phenomenon of this peculiar "fashion for Auschwitz literature" on the example of several selected works.'
Source: Introduction.
