“The sisters share a hug that is about so much more than physical comfort. It is a bond which crosses time and space, which hurdles their pain and dulls their suffering. They each implicitly understand that mere distance will not break their bond.”
One day, Cibi, Magda and Livia’s father sits them down and makes them promise to stay together and always look out for each other. While he probably didn’t sense what was over the horizon with WWII, he did sense that he didn’t have long for this Earth. Years and years later, when the soldiers come to their house in Slovakia for all the teenage girls, the oldest, Cibi, is away learning to survive if she gets to Israel. The next oldest, Magda, is taken away to the hospital to hide out. The youngest should be safe, but when they come for the older two, they take Livia. Before Magda can get out of the hospital, Cibi follows her sister and they both end up in a concentration camp.
Three Sisters is the third book by Heather Morris about people who were in concentration camps. The book comes out Oct. 5, 2021. I was able to get an advanced copy from NetGalley. Morris wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey. This is a book that would be work pre-ordering!
The book shows how Cibi and Livia survive and, yet, two years later, their sister Magda is sent to join them. Each does what it takes to live, but also to help their sisters. Lale from the Tattooist of Auschwitz is briefly mentioned in the book and Cilka is alluded to in passing. When the sisters feel like all hope is lost, they cling to the promise their father had them make and stive to keep it at all costs.
The book is based on the story of three real sisters who did survive the Holocaust. There are interviews with them or their children at the end of the book. I was left again in awe of what people can survive. Evil must always be stopped to prevent anything like this from ever happening again!
Have you read The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey? Do you plan to read Three Sisters? Share your thoughts on those books in the comments!