Lale is the Tetoverier, the Tattooist. Lale is the Tetoverier at Auschwitz-Birkenau. This is not a story of how one human can treat the other worse than an animal, this is a love story and a story of triumph over the greatest adversity there can ever be. This is the true story of the Tattooist of Auschwitz.

I loved this story from beginning to end. I loved Lale and Gita and all their friends and the story of how they survived the most terrible genocide of the last century and how they came out at the end of it all with each other to live a long and varied life.

Although this is a true story, what happened to Lale and Gita and the camp is such an amazing story that it's hard to stomach why it is that he can remember what happened in such minute detail, such is the terrible nature of the Nazi's treatment of their captives. Heather Morris handles an amazingly difficult subject with such sensitivity that the last few pages left me with tears in my eyes and an enormous smile on my face all at the same time.

This isn't a story of the horrors of Auschwitz, although i could just as easily have been. This is the story of Lale and Gita and how their love for each other conquered it all.

Their story will stay with me forever. I am glad Heather Morris was given the chance to tell it on their behalf as it needed to be shared. Thank you NetGalley.

An exceptionally moving book,very emotive and you will not forget it for a long time,superbly wrotten

What an incredible book that I devoured in a day. Every time we read about the atrocities of what went on - it still manages to break my heart all over again. A truly inspiring story about what extents people went through to survive

Extraordinary story of the human spirit to survive. I am speechless. Thank you Lale for having the courage to tell your story and to Heather Morris for writing this book.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is an emotional tale based on the true story of Lale Sokolov, a concentration camp prisoner who ends up working in the fairly privileged position of Tätowierer, responsible for tattooing the numbers on the wrist of the other prisoners.

At the heart of the tale is an unlikely love story - that people such as Lale were able to fall in love with a fellow prisoner is remarkable. Gita is his love interest, with Lale's attraction instant. Lale uses his relative privilege to arrange time together, as well as helping others that have been imprisoned. Perhaps the true value of the novel is this picture of what life inside a concentration camp was truly like. Reading stories about the horrors of Auschwitz is gruelling but so necessary. I learnt a lot. These stories are vital.

One of the most striking elements of the novel is the way that it deals with death. Prisoners come and go - we often don't know where they go or how they've died, but we have to confront this stark reality. This happened less than 100 years ago to real people.

Hanging over the entire text is the obvious question: will Lale and his love interest survive? Is there a happy ending for this couple amidst the horror? It's this tension that will inevitably hang over any Auschwitz novel, but it's the answer that compels us to read on.

A simple story laced with hope and horror in equal measure. I would definitely recommend reading this.

Incredible true story but lacking in character development and emotion for me. It's a simplistic narration of Lale's life and perhaps that is what his harrowing story warranted, no frills. It's just not my kind of book. Fascinating interview with the author at the end.

A haunting tale. I couldn't put it down.. this captures you from the beginning.

"Based on an incredible true story" this is the story of one man's will to survive in an Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII.
Lale Sokolov is an educated man, fluent in many languages and is transported from Slovakia to Auschwitz in 1942. He is offered the privileged job of tatowierer "the tattooist", which he readily accepts. When prisoners arrive he is to "mark" them with a 5 digit number that will remind them of the hell that has now become their life. Due to his position he is able to help fellow inmates, at times, and early on meets and falls in love with a young woman called Gita. Lale's devotion to Gita strengthens his resolve to survive the horrors in the hopes of having a future together.
As is often the case when we read these horrific stories of torture and death, occurring at this time, it is incomprehensible that people can do that to other people.
Lale Sokolov wanted his story recorded prior to his death so that the harrowing events he endured for 3 years "would never happen again".
Writer Heather Morris met Lale in 2003 and did an amazing job telling his powerful, moving and unforgettable story.

Thank you to Net Galley and Bonnier Publishing for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

An interesting book which I read in one go. I didn’t realise until the end that it was a true story which made me love it all the more

Based on a true story, this uncovers a quirk of the random cruelty of the death camps. If you can be killed at any moment for any reason, it's also possible to survive for no discernible reason. The Nazi machinery was powered by administration and bureaucracy and the tattooist was a part of that.

I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy reading this; I thought it might have been more like a non-fiction educational book full of facts about the holocaust. It wasn't like that at all; it was easy to read and although the topic is upsetting I really liked it.
It's April 1942 and in the small town of Krompachy, Slovakia, as in other towns, all of the Jewish families have been told to hand over one child, aged eighteen or over, to go and work for the German government. If any family refuses to do this they will be taken to a concentration camp. Lale Sokolov makes the sacrifice thinking it would keep the rest of his family safe. He boards a cattle train with hundreds of other men; there's no room to sit, buckets for toilets and they are given no food or water. Eventually, after a long journey, they arrive at Auschwitz and are put to work building the rest of the camp. The S.S soldiers are unbelievably cruel, they starve, torture and kill innocent people for fun so Lale vows to keep his head down and do what he's told so he can walk out of the camp and back to his family alive.
Not long after his arrival he becomes The Tetovierer, the job means he gets a private place to sleep and extra rations which he shares with his friends. Lale has to tattoo a number on the arm of every prisoner that arrives at Auschwitz and Birkenau and as the builders finish the crematoriums there are hundreds arriving every day. The first time a group of women arrive he feels sick to the stomach at the thought of inflicting the pain of the needle on them, but has to do it or he will be shot. One of the girls, Gita, catches his eye. In time, and among all the sickness, death and cruelty they fall in love. Gita isn't as positive as Lale, she see's no future and believes she will die in the camp like so many more have, but Lale won't let himself believe that. He tell's her they will survive this so they can build a future together so they both do what they have to to survive.
Heather Morris tells Lale and Gita's story beautifully. In such a horrific time, in a place full of human beings treating other human beings so terribly, there is also love, friendship and compassion.

This was, unsurprisingly, a devastating read. As with all books covering The Holocaust, it can at times make for really unsettling and upsetting reading.
But whilst upsetting at times, this is a truly remarkable story and a testament to the unbreakable human spirit.

This is a beautifully written, wonderfully researched novel about a Jewish man during WWII. The historical fiction novel is based on a real person who told his story to the author. He and his wife had kept their lives private after they moved to Australia after the war but after his wife died after over 50 years of marriage, he felt the need to share their story with the world.

Lale Sokolov was a young man when he decided to go to a work camp to save the rest of his family. He finds out later that this was a lie and most of the rest of his family didn't survive. He was given the role at a tattooist - the person who tattooed the numbers on the arms of the prisoners. Because he had a bit more freedom that most, he was able to get extra food to share with other people. One day he saw Gita and knew that he had to get to know her. The next several years were terrible for both of them and the atrocities that went on were horrendous. He managed to find her again after the war and they immigrated to Australia.

This is a difficult story to read due to the horrible things that were going on in the camps but Lale had decided early on that he would survive and that thought kept him alive every day. So even though it's a very sad story - it's also very uplifting and shows the very best of humanity in the very worst of circumstances.

Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Wow. Based on a true story, this is a story of survival, love, hope and strength. Lale was one of the early prisoners in Auschwitz and as the tattooist, he managed to survive and to help Gita, who later became his wife, to survive as well. His story is touching and horrible and shows yet another aspect of the horrors of the holocaust. I highly recommend this book.

received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher.

A heartbreaking and harrowing true story covering one of the darkest periods in our history. I was completely and utterly gripped by Lale and Gita’s story, which stayed with me long after I put the book down. I have read many WW2 and Holocaust accounts, both fictional and true, and having finished this one I am reminded once again of the importance of these stories, and the importance of continuing to read and share them to ensure something like this can never happen again.
Lale and Gita’s story is fascinating, and their strength in the face of utter despair and their unshakeable belief in the inherent good in humanity and that things will work out is incredibly inspirational and uplifting. 4.5 stars.

I worried that this book would be very hard to read as it deals with the atrocities human beings had to in the camp's. I was wrong! I could not put this book down.
Lale was immediately a man who was not going to give up easily. He would not give up on life. To think that you could fall in love with the horrors that surrounded them every day is just amazing and a sign of their strength of character.
Lale was an obvious gentleman with a very good heart who helped as many as he could. Even when reading this i felt that I was being protected from the horrors they endured in the camp's.
A must read!

I just couldn't stop reading this book. I've read articles about the holocaust, but never a whole story before, and this helped me understand so much more about the horrors of what happened. How people survived, and what they did to survive such cruelty, beyond belief. Its a hard book to read, but threaded through it is a love story that endures all the horrors. I didn't realise, till the end, that it was a true story and to then see a photo of the Gita and Lale was a lovely surprise. Really recommend this book. Its a 5 star recommendation from me.

A beautifully written true story. The detail is amazing and harrowing. To hear this Lales story is so important, the suffering and ability to find optimism and love in amongst the worst depths of hell.

This is a harrowing, yet ultimately hopeful story. I was drawn in by the determination and love Lale and Gita show in the face of unimaginable brutality and death. But, and sadly this is a big but, I found the style of the writing really distracting and annoying. It felt like the author couldn't choose between writing in the form of a novel or biographical non-fiction which kept pulling me out of the events she described.