From Goodreads: Eva Mozes Kor was 10 years old when she arrived in Auschwitz. While her parents and two older sisters were taken to the gas chambers, she and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the man known as the Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele’s twins were granted the privileges of keeping their own clothes and hair, but they were also subjected to sadistic medical experiments and forced to fight daily for their own survival, as most of the twins died as a result of the experiments or from the disease and hunger pervasive in the camp. In a narrative told with emotion and restraint, readers will learn of a child’s endurance and survival in the face of truly extraordinary evil. The book also includes an epilogue of Eva’s recovery from this experience and her remarkable decision to publicly forgive the Nazis. Through her museum and her lectures, she has dedicated her life to giving testimony on the Holocaust, providing a message of hope for people who have suffered, and working toward goals of forgiveness, peace, and the elimination of hatred and prejudice in the world.

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Tanglewood Press has been extremely gracious in allowing me to read a copy of this memoir, via Netgalley, prior to the paperback release tomorrow, and I have to say that this memoir is a wonderful read.  I’ve had it on my list of books to read for a while, and now I’m kicking myself for having waited so long.  Though the topic of the memoir is gut wrenching, the prose and revelations within the book are captivating; something everyone needs to know about.  I’m ashamed to say that I’d never heard of the twin experiments within the camps, though I knew of experimentation, and what Dr. Mengele did to those children is truly atrocious.  Mozes Kor does a wonderful job, though, of making these atrocious actions easier to read through her prose and diction, which help keep the reader from complete despair as there isn’t extreme detail.  Instead, Mozes Kor alludes to many of the atrocities without expressing all of them point blank, which also makes this a great book of MG and YA, as it isn’t too gritty for them. 

I am currently teaching Night, by Elie Wiesel, to my students, and I’m thinking of ways to bring this novel into the classroom as well.  It’s very well written, and it’s a true eye opener.  Five stars.