R E K. (bigstone) - , reviewed on + 1438 more book reviews
What an incredible story! Caroline Ferriday was an activist par none. The author does a wonderful job of documenting her life and experiences. Caroline campaigned tirelessly to help others orphans, women, other displaced persons but her work on behalf of the Polish women experimented on in Ravensbruck touched the hearts of many Americans. The author touches on her personal life as well including her lover, Paul, a famous French actor. Yes, the conversations were the author's own imagination but I believe that conversations much like them must have taken place.
Kasia Kuzmerick is no doubt a blend of the Polish women the author met and researched as she prepared to write this novel even though she and her sister Zuzanna are based on two women with backgrounds like these characters. Their lives were marred by their experiences with the Nazis and living in the women's concentration camp of Ravensbruck.
Herta Oberheuser is a doctor who worked at Ravensbruck. She wanted to become a surgeon but because she was female was certified only in dermitology. Her job at the camp led her directions she never believed she would go but times being what they were she did what she was told to do operating and experimenting on healthy women as she was directed. Herta , as many of the doctors who worked with her, learned to fence off their emotions and ethics to meet the demands of the Nazis.
What did I like most about this book? The fact that so many characters were people who actually lived lives such as these. The emotional and personal lives the author gives a more complete picture of who these people might have been. The discussion by the author of the research and travels she did to write this novel. And, now I want to go to Bethlehem to see the lilacs that Caroline's family nourished for myself.
Kasia Kuzmerick is no doubt a blend of the Polish women the author met and researched as she prepared to write this novel even though she and her sister Zuzanna are based on two women with backgrounds like these characters. Their lives were marred by their experiences with the Nazis and living in the women's concentration camp of Ravensbruck.
Herta Oberheuser is a doctor who worked at Ravensbruck. She wanted to become a surgeon but because she was female was certified only in dermitology. Her job at the camp led her directions she never believed she would go but times being what they were she did what she was told to do operating and experimenting on healthy women as she was directed. Herta , as many of the doctors who worked with her, learned to fence off their emotions and ethics to meet the demands of the Nazis.
What did I like most about this book? The fact that so many characters were people who actually lived lives such as these. The emotional and personal lives the author gives a more complete picture of who these people might have been. The discussion by the author of the research and travels she did to write this novel. And, now I want to go to Bethlehem to see the lilacs that Caroline's family nourished for myself.
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