By Anna Stuart
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/4 (Goodreads: 4.54)
GENRE: Historical Fiction
PART OF A SERIES? Yes {Women of War no. 1}
WORTH READING? Yes
SUMMARY:
This book tells the story of two women in Auschwitz during WWII. The women are charged with looking after the babies born in the camp. As a midwife, Ana knows she holds the fate of many young lives in her hands, both those of the mothers and those of their offspring. Ana vows to protect them all with everything she has.
When two SS officers storm the maternity hut and forcibly remove a blonde-haired baby from its mother, and followed by many others afterwards, Ana realises that it is only the healthy babies who can pass for German that are placed with German families. Ana and her young friend Ester begin secretly tattooing the babies with their mother’s numbers, in the hope that mother and child may one day be reunited.
Then, early one morning, Ana notices Ester’s small bump.
Opening line: 'There are cots everywhere. They fill the echoey, wooden-floor hall and from each one a small child peers, all eyes.'
This is a perfectly paced, well-researched historical fiction novel. It is a story based on the life of the incredible, inspirational Stanislawa Leszczynska, a Polish midwife.
The Midwife of Auschwitz tells the fictional story of two women and their families, during World War II. One woman is a trained midwife (Ana) and the other is a trained nurse (Ester). Ester finds herself forced into midwifery even before Auschwitz, as the only midwife in the ghetto is no longer available. Ester’s medical knowledge proves invaluable, both in the ghetto and then at Auschwitz. When the two women realise Ester is pregnant, they know that they will need to do something drastic.
Anna Stuart writes beautiful characters who seem to come alive within the pages of this book. There were many characters I found myself rooting for. Needless to say, considering the dark era in which this book is set, there were also countless characters I despised.
Be warned that some of the abhorrent scenes involving children in The Midwife of Auschwitz are particularly distressing to read.
The Midwife of Auschwitz may have been my first Anna Stuart book, but it most certainly will not be the last! I found it riveting and suspenseful. I look forward to reading the rest of Stuart’s ‘Women of War’ series as soon as I can get my hands on them, starting with The Midwife of Berlin.
Click here if you’d like to buy the paperback of The Midwife of Auschwitz
Here are the sequels, if you’d like to read them also…
Click here if you’d like to buy the paperback of The Midwife of Berlin
Click here if you’d like to buy the paperback of The War Orphan
Click here if you’d like to buy the paperback of The Resistance Sisters
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