?The sisters promised their father that they would always stay together, but can that happen when WWII begins and one of the sisters is summoned by the Germans?

Livi is ordered to report to the train station and to Auschwitz. Her sister Cibi can’t let her go alone so she reports too.

Their sister Magda was in the hospital so at this time was not required to report. She does have to hide, but to no avail. Magda is sent to the camp too a few years later.

The two sisters endure the horrors and hardships of the camp together and welcome their sister even though it isn't a pleasant reunion.

All three do not leave each other’s side and endure together.

As the war ends and the prisoners are on a march, the sisters and other women run and escape.

Heartwrenching, heartbreaking, and well written with hope being what gets them through it all.

We then follow the sisters as they leave their country for Israel but never have the horror of their concentration camp ordeals out of their minds.

This is a true story told to Heather Morris by two of the three sisters who are still living in Israel with their extended family.

The acknowledgements by the children will bring tears to your eyes.

Another well-done, well-researched book by Ms. Morris. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Three Sisters, Heather Morris, author; Finty Williams, narrator
On the eve of an operation which might take his life, a father asked his three little girls, age 3, 5 and 7, to make a promise to him. His wife watched with tear filled eyes. Each of them, even the youngest, agreed to always stick together and take care of each other. With what awaited them, their promise was put to the test. Would they be able to keep it? Only time would tell.
In the third book of the series, Livia, Magda and Cibi, listed in order of age, from younger to older, struggle to keep their promise to their father during the time of the Holocaust and after. Each of the young Jewish women possesses a different strength of character, but each had character. They came from a loving observant family. Their path from Slovakia to Israel was fraught with danger, caprice, misfortune, and serendipity. The survival of Jews was dependent on luck, time and place, rare kindness and compassion. The existence of resentment and hatred toward innocent people because of one’s own personal failure and greed was rampant in Germany. The silence of the world in the face of that hate and barbarism was even more prevalent and incomprehensible.
The detailed descriptions of the lives of those who lived through that bloody stain on history’s doorstep is intense and broad. In every book in this series there is something to learn, about that hateful period of time and those hateful people who pursued and participated in Hitler’s effort to create the Third Reich, their dream, which was truly a nightmare for its victims. Those who survived, carried the scars and memories with them for the rest of their lives, and this book, along with the first two, highlight not only their courage, but their continued ability to find a scrap of hope and even optimism, in the face of the most horrible of circumstances. That was what helped some of them to make it through with barely a spark of life left within their bodies. The guilt of the survivor’s is palpable, however. Who can know why some survived and some didn’t, some were able to hide and some were caught, some went meekly and unsuspectingly to their deaths and some fought back to little or no avail. Some behaved reprehensibly. Eventually, though, David slew Goliath, but it was a long time coming.
In every book about the Holocaust, I learn something new about the Hellish time. I had never heard of the punishment they were subjected to called The Hole, nor had I ever read about the difference between the number of numbers tattooed on the arms of those in Auschwitz and how it affected the life or death of the victims. To tell more of this story would rob future readers of the unique learning experience achieved from reading the three novels in this series. Because they are written as novels, they are easier to take, but the reality is that the barbarism described actually did occur. The book’s importance is in the need to remember that such evil exists so that we are never as complacent again, so that we never stand by silently while others are abused because it advantages us over them. Sadly, we may be witnessing such apathy, once again, today, in our own backyards. During the war, their own kind turned on them in order to survive, some were depraved, some never knew the depths to which they would descend in order to survive, some showed supreme courage and some did not, but all were victims of the depravity of others. No one was totally innocent, except the victims who had no choice; the perpetrators and complicit certainly did. The existence of G-d was often questioned, and I imagine, still is today, but Israel raised generations of soldiers who will never be lambs led to the slaughter again.
So, the book examines “survivor’s guilt”, belief in G-d, and man’s inhumanity to man, thoroughly, because even after the war ended, it continued without pause, but it ends with hope and optimism for a better and kinder future. The books in the series tell the complete story of days that will live in infamy, and of days whose memory will hopefully prevent a recurrence, for evil personified was, and is, not imaginary.