Introduction

From Heather Morris, the New York Times bestselling author of the multi-million copy bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey: a story of family, courage, and resilience, inspired by a true story.

Against all odds, three Slovakian sisters have survived years of imprisonment in the most notorious death camp in Nazi Germany: Auschwitz. Livia, Magda, and Cibi have clung together, nearly died from starvation and overwork, and the brutal whims of the guards in this place of horror. But now, the allies are closing in and the sisters have one last hurdle to face: the death march from Auschwitz, as the Nazis try to erase any evidence of the prisoners held there. Due to a last minute stroke of luck, the three of them are able to escape formation and hide in the woods for days before being rescued.

And this is where the story begins. From there, the three sisters travel to Israel, to their new home, but the battle for freedom takes on new forms. Livia, Magda, and Cibi must face the ghosts of their past--and some secrets that they have kept from each other--to find true peace and happiness.

Inspired by a true story, and with events that overlap with those of Lale, Gita, and Cilka, The Three Sisters will hold a place in readers' hearts and minds as they experience what true courage really is.

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Excerpt

Vranov nad Topl’ou, Slovakia

June 1929

The three sisters, Cibi, Magda and Livi, sit in a tight circle with

their father in the small backyard of their home. The oleander

bush their mother has tried so hard to coax back to life droops disconsolately in one corner of the small garden.

Livi, the youngest, at three years old, leaps to her feet: sitting still

is not in her nature.

“Livi, please, will you sit down?” Cibi tells her. At seven years

old, she is the eldest of the siblings, and it is her responsibility to

chastise them when they misbehave. “You know Father wants to

talk to us.”

“No,” three-year-old Livi pronounces, and proceeds to skip

around the seated figures, giving each a pat on the head as she

passes. Magda, the middle sister, and five years old, is using a dry

twig from the oleander to draw imaginary figures in the dirt. It is

a warm, sunny, summer afternoon. The back door is open, inviting

in the heat, while sending the sweet smell of freshly baked bread

into the garden. Two windows, one looking into the kitchen, the

other into the small bedroom the family shares, have seen better

days. Chips of paint litter the ground: winter has taken its toll on

the cottage. The garden gate catches a gust of wind and slams. The

catch is broken; yet another thing for Father to fix.

“Come here, kitten. Will you sit on my knee?” Father beckons

to Livi.

Being told to do something from an older sister is one thing;

but being asked, and so sweetly, by her father is quite another. Livi

drops into his lap, a flailing arm smacking against the side of his

head. She is oblivious to the pain her action has caused.

“Are you all right, Father?” Magda is concerned, catching the

grimace on his face as his head jerked back. She brushes her fingers

down his stubbly cheek.

“Yes, my darling. I am perfect. I have my girls with me—what

more could a father ask for?”

“You said you wanted to talk to us?” Cibi, ever impatient, gets

to the point of this little “meeting.”

Menachem Meller looks into the eyes of his pretty daughters.

They have not a care in the world, innocent of the harsh realities of

life outside their sweet cottage. Harsh realities which Menachem

has lived through and still lives with. The bullet that didn’t kill him

during the Great War remains lodged in his neck and now, twelve

years later, it is threatening to finish the deed.

Fiery Cibi, tough Cibi . . . Menachem strokes her hair. On the

day she was born she announced that the world had better watch

out—she had arrived and woe betide anyone who got in her way.

Her green eyes have a habit of turning a fiery yellow when her temper gets the better of her.

And Magda, beautiful, gentle Magda, how did she get to be five

so fast? He worries her sweet nature will make her vulnerable to

being hurt and used by others. Her big blue eyes gaze at him and

he feels her love, her understanding of his precarious health. He sees in her a maturity beyond her years, a compassion she has inherited from her mother and grandmother, and a fierce desire to

care for others.

Livi stops squirming as Menachem plays with her soft, curly hair.

Already he has described her to their mother as the wild one, the

one he worries will run with the wolves, and break like a sapling if

cornered. Her piercing blue eyes and petite frame remind him of a

fawn, easy to startle and ready to bolt.

Tomorrow he will have the surgery to remove the errant bullet from his neck. Why couldn’t it have just stayed where it was?

He has prayed endlessly for more time with his girls. He needs to

guide them into adulthood, attend their weddings, hold his grandchildren. The operation is a risky one, and if he doesn’t survive, this may be the last day he spends with them. If that is the case, however awful it is to contemplate on this glorious sunny day, then what he needs to ask of his girls, must be said now.

“Well, Father, what do you want to tell us?” Cibi prods.

“Cibi, Magda, do you know what a promise is?” he asks, slowly.

He needs them to take this seriously.

Magda shakes her head: “no.”

“I think so,” says Cibi. “It’s when two people keep a secret,

isn’t it?”

Menachem smiles. Cibi will always have a go, it’s what he loves most about her.

“That’s close, my darling, but a promise can involve

more than two people. I want this promise to be shared between

the three of you. Livi is not going to understand, so I need you to

keep talking to her about it, until she does.”

“I don’t understand, Father,” Magda interjects. “You’re being all

confusing.”

“It’s very simple, Magda.” Menachem smiles.

There is nothing that gives him as much pleasure as talking to his girls. Something catches in his chest; he must remember this moment, this sunny day, the wide eyes of his three daughters.

“I want you to make a promise to me and to each other that you will always take care of your sisters. That you will always be there for one another, no matter what. That you will not allow anything to take you away from each other. Do you understand?”

Magda and Cibi nod, and Cibi asks, suddenly serious: “I do,

Father, but why would someone want to take us away from each

other?”

“I’m not saying anyone will, I just want you to promise me

that if anyone tries to separate you, you will remember what we

spoke of here today and do everything in your power not to let

that happen. The three of you are stronger together, you must

never forget that.” Menachem’s voice stumbles, and he clears his

throat.

Cibi and Magda exchange a glance. Livi looks from sister to sister to father, knowing that something solemn has been agreed, but with little idea of what it means.

“I promise, Father,” says Magda.

“Cibi?” Menachem asks.

“I promise too, Father. I promise to look after my sisters—I won’t

let anyone hurt them, you know that.”

“Yes, I do know that, my darling Cibi. This promise will become

a pact between the three of you and no others. Will you tell Livi of

this pact when she is old enough to understand?”

Cibi grabs Livi’s face in her hands, turning her head to look into

her eyes. “Livi, say ‘promise.’ Say ‘I promise.’”

Livi studies her sister. Cibi is nodding, encouraging her to say

the words.

“I pwomise,” pronounces Livi.

“Now say it to Father, say ‘I promise’ to Father,” Cibi instructs.

Livi turns to her father, her eyes dancing, the giggle in her throat

threatening to explode, the warmth of his smile melting her little

heart. “I pwomise, Father. Livi pwomises.”

Gathering his girls to his chest he looks over Cibi’s head and

smiles at the other girl in his life, the mother of his daughters,

who stands in the doorway of the house, tears glistening on her

cheeks.

He has too much to lose; he has to survive. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

From the publisher:

1. What do you think it was about these three sisters that meant they survived the Holocaust when so many others didn’t? Was it luck or something else?

2. Why do you think the girls were so often treated better than other prisoners, by the block kaposand other guards, another fact that meant that they survived?

3. How important were relationships in the camps—between family, friends, and those in charge?

4. There is a sense that Magda felt guilt at not having been in the camp for as long as her sisters. Is this justified?

5. How do you think being in the camps shaped the people these three sisters became?

6. How did Three Sisters change your perceptions about the Holocaust in particular, and war in general? What implications does this book hold for our own time?

7. Why do you think the sisters chose to leave their home in Slovakia after the war and embark on a journey to Israel? Do you think they would have done this had it not been for their experiences in the Holocaust?

8. How do you think the sisters’ experiences affected the relationships they formed after the Holocaust?

9. The scene in which the group of girls who have just survived the death march find an abandonedhouse and decide to take the dining table outside to eat is incredibly powerful. Why do you think they did this after everything they’d been through, rather than eating inside, and would you have done the same?

10. What was your overwhelming feeling when you finished the novel? Was it one of hope?

11. The sisters were barely older than children when they were taken to Auschwitz—Livia just fifteen. Do you think their youth gave them an advantage, or was the opposite the case?

12. Each of the sisters married a Holocaust survivor, with his own story of survival. Why do you think this might be?

13. Do you see the sisters as heroines or ordinary women?


AUDIOBOOK DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Did you enjoy Finty Williams’ narration? Was there a character’s voice you felt particularly connected to?

How do you think listening to the audiobook differs from reading the print book?

What was it like to hear from survivors themselves at the end of the audiobook ?

What do you think it was about these three sisters that meant they survived the Holocaust when so many others didn’t? Was it luck or something else?

Why do you think the girls were so often treated better than other prisoners, by the block kapos and other guards, another fact that meant that they survived?

How important were relationships in the camps—between family, friends, and those in charge? 

There is a sense that Magda felt guilt at not having been in the camp for as long as her sisters. Is this justified? 

How do you think being in the camps shaped the people these three sisters became? 

How did Three Sisters change your perceptions about the Holocaust in particular, and war in general? What implications does this book hold for our own time?

What was your overwhelming feeling when you finished the novel? Was it one of hope? 

The sisters were barely older than children when they were taken to Auschwitz—Livia just fifteen. Do you think their youth gave them an advantage, or was the opposite the case? 

Each of the sisters married a Holocaust survivor, with his own story of survival. Why do you think this might be?

Do you see the sisters as heroines or ordinary women?

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