SEPTEMBER 2018 - AudioFile
This engaging audiobook demonstrates that, despite the passage of nearly two generations, new Holocaust stories continue to emerge. Richard Armitage is a superb narrator whose performance here is among his best. Heather Morris bases her book on the story of Holocaust survivor Ludwig Sokolov, who was taken to Auschwitz and given the job of tattooing numbers on every prisoner. But it is Sokolov’s unyielding spirit that matters most. He uses every privilege available to save his fellow Jews. Armitage’s performance captures every emotion from fear to trepidation to hope and even to love with understated warmth. Sokolov waited until the death of his wife, whom he met in the camp, before revealing his story to Morris. It was worth the wait. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2019 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Booklist
Although one might suspect that there’s far more to his past than is revealed here, much of Lale’s story’s complexity makes it onto the page. And even though it’s clear that Lale will survive, Morris imbues the novel with remarkable suspense.”
People
Based on a true story, the wrenching yet riveting tale of Lale’s determination to survive the camp with Gita is a moving testament to the power of kindness, ingenuity, and hope.”
BookPage
Like the Nobel Prize-winning author Elie Wiesel’s Night, Morris’ work takes us inside the day-to-day workings of the most notorious German death camp. Over the course of three years, Morris interviewed Lale, teasing out his memories and weaving them into her heart-rending narrative of a Jew whose unlikely forced occupation as a tattooist put him in a position to act with kindness and humanity in a place where both were nearly extinct.
Popsugar
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is the story of hope and survival against incredible odds and the power of love.
Graeme Simsion
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is an extraordinary document.. I find it hard to imagine anyone who would not be drawn in, confronted and moved. I would recommend it unreservedly to anyone, whether they’d read a hundred Holocaust stories or none.
Jenna Blum
As many interviews as I did with Holocaust survivors for the Shoah Foundation and as many devastating testimonies as I heard, I could not stop reading THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ—an extraordinary story of love so fierce it sustained people enduring the unimaginable. Read it, share it, remember it.
International bestseller Jill Mansell
What an extraordinary and important book this is. We need as many memories of the Holocaust as we can retain, and this is a moving and ultimately uplifting story of love, loyalties and friendship amidst the horrors of war.
Booklist
Although one might suspect that there’s far more to his past than is revealed here, much of Lale’s story’s complexity makes it onto the page. And even though it’s clear that Lale will survive, Morris imbues the novel with remarkable suspense.”
Library Journal
04/15/2018
Fifteen years ago, Australia-based writer Morris was introduced to Holocaust survivor Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew who was forced to tattoo his fellow prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau. This novel builds on interviews she conducted with Sokolov, portraying his efforts to assist others though surrounded by horrific brutality and his vow to help a young woman named Gita survive the camps and marry her. Already an international best seller; with a 20,000-copy hardcover and 100,000-copy paperback first printing.
