Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a historical fiction novel set in WWII and was a fantastic read! So gripping from the very beginning and I burned through it staying up way too late!!! Ester and Ana's stories were so deeply touching as they survive and help others survive in Auchwitz. A great read and highly recommend.

The story of Ana Kaminski and Ester Pasternak, a Christian midwife and a Jewish nurse from Lodz that are sent to Auschwitz and help about 3,000 women give birth while interred at the camp. The women knew each other at home and Ana tried to help Ester and her husband escape and was accused of aiding the resistance and was sent to the camp. Ester is on the same train with her Mother and Ana promises Ruth she will look after Ester. They soon become the two who birth babies and nurse them in the camp and while they both have moment of despair, they manage to bolster each other and keep the faith that they can make it until the Allies save them.

As heartbreaking as the topic can be, I find myself drawn to stories about strength and perseverance during WWII. This book was one that really hit the mark for strength and perseverance. The things that Ester and Ana manage to do while in the maternity ward are amazing. These two women were stronger than either of them realized or could have been alone. So many were lost, yet some managed to help their fellow prisoners and keep the hope alive. While the book is based on a true story, some liberty was taken and yet, it rings true as these things truly did happen. My heart aches for those that were lost and suffered, let's hope we never allow this to happen again.

I cried three times reading this book. My heart felt for all of the mothers and babies who suffered in concentration camps. Based on a true story of a midwife who tattooed the mother’s ID number on the baby prior to the baby being taken as part of a Nazi program. The tattoo gave mothers hope that they would one day be reunited with their babies.

A fantastic and emotional story. Ideal for fans of The Nightingale or All The Light We Cannot See.

I love this book. It is so powerful! It definitely pulls at the heart strings!! You will cry!! But it's something everyone needs to read and reflect on! Awesome book!!

‘If we join there Resistance, we may lose our lives.” And if we do not,’ we may lose our souls.”

The Midwife of Auschwitz is a remarkable and heartbreaking story set in one of the darkest periods in history. Inspired by a true story, it is beautifully written, involves citizens heroically putting their lives in harm’s way to help others and it simply took my breath away.

The Midwife Of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart is historical fiction based upon the life of Polish midwife, Stanisława Leszczyńska, who was not Jewish, but whose family worked for the Polish resistance. Leszczyńska is now being considered for canonization by the Roman Catholic Church. With some minor changes of name, Stuart transforms Leszczyńska's story into The Midwife Of Auschwitz.

Although Stuart fictionalizes this story in The Midwife Of Auschwitz, the basic story is based upon historical facts. Leszczyńska was sent to Auschwitz as a prisoner because of her family's efforts to help Jews imprisoned in the Lodz Ghetto and for resistance activities. One element of fiction is found in the the story of the Jewish nurse Ester, who is actually based on Leszczyńska's own daughter, Sylwia, who was imprisioned with her mother. As was documented in Stuart's novel, Leszczyńska did deliver 3000 babies while incarcerated at Auschwitz.

I have been to both Auschwitz camps and the descriptions in Stuart's novel are accurate, although depressingly so. She also does a very nice job of capturing the horror and deprivation of the camps and the reality of the Lodz Ghetto. I spent my academic career teaching about the Holocaust, which included a fellowship at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. For accuracy and research, I must commend Stuart. This is also a very readable novel that flows well.

I want too thank both the author and the publisher for making this ARC available for me to read, in exchange for my honest review. I will look for other novels by Stuart, and also I also want to thank NetGalley for introducing me to another new author.

5/5 ⭐️
Holy crap this is a must read if you love WW2! To say I didn’t cry would be a lie. This was so so good and beautiful and heartbreaking!

This book was depressingly sweet. It was hard to empathize through the pain of losing a child under such horrid circumstances. These women are so strong to endure what they had without losing hope.

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ

👼𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙙𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝘼𝙪𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙯
👼𝙰𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚝
👼𝙹𝚎𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝙻𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎
👼375 𝙿𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜

🐈‍👼Sʜᴏᴿᴛ Sʏɴᴏᴘsɪs

👼The Midwife of Auschwitz tells the story of several brave women who suffered as midwives in this death camp. It wasn’t pretty, but they carried on.

👼Mʏ Tʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛs

👼I have read many books about the Holocaust, but none about the midwives and the pregnant women they helped. Although this is a fictional story, many aspects are accurate, coming from the author’s research. Anna based characters on real people. She mentions much of this at the back of the book.

👼It is unimaginable to picture the atrocities of Auschwitz. Ana and Ester went on the train together and were able to stay together once they arrived because they were not only nurses but midwives. They were put in the maternity hut, which was in no better condition than any other. They slept several to a bed which was a board or a mattress filled with straw. Lice and rodents were prevalent. There was no sanitary area to deliver their babies, and they typically lost them in one way or another, all very savagely.

👼The relationship between the mothers and soon-to-be mothers was heartwarming as they looked out for each other the best they could with cruelty surrounding them at all times.

👼It is incredible that anyone made it out of these death camps. The conditions were unimaginable; they froze, starved, and many caught diseases. The smoke and ash from the crematoriums rained down on them 24/7.

👼The characters are spectacular. They were beyond strong; they had no other choice unless they decided death was a better way to go. The women helped each other stay sane and out of death’s doorway. They even came up with a way of identifying babies taken and given to German families, hoping it would help them find them when the war was over.

👼Ana and Ester were unique. Ana had a calm demeanor throughout the story. Ester was a bit feistier, and Ana helped reel her in when needed.

👼This book was so good. It brought another of the atrocities of the Holocaust to light for me. I have read about Doctor Mengele and his horrid experiments on children but have never read about the pregnant women behind the fences. Some came pregnant, and others became pregnant there, some from German soldiers.

👼The Holocaust is sad but poignant and essential to learn about. Knowing people are that evil is sickening but a reality we face. If you are interested in this topic, I highly suggest The Midwife of Auschwitz.

👼Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing this ebook for me to read and review.

This novel based on the true life story of Polish Midwife Stanislawa Leszczynska, Ana Kaminski in our book. Her story can only be rated 5 stars and no less. What an incredible woman, reading her story one cannot help but see the light shine and feel the warmth of her inner strength and caring despite the evil and darkness she was made to endure.
Ana and her two sons are arrested by the gestapo on suspicion of resistance activities, namely helping the jews of the ghetto. Anna finds herself on a train bound for Birkenau with her young jewish friend Ester and Ester's mother. Ester's mother, injured when the Nazis began liquidating the jews of the ghetto, in her last words gives her daughter to Ana, saying she is your daughter now.
upon arrival at the camp Ana declares herself a midwife and Ester her assistant. Throughout their time in the camp Anba delivered near 3,ooo babies, none of which died during childbirth, sadly conditions were so horrible that most died soon after, with the Jewish babies being drowned at birth, often right in front of the new mother. My goodness, my mind isn't even capable of fully understanding the devastation that must have run through these poor women every time a child was born, knowing its chances at survival were little to none. To have to face this time after time and to be able to still help these poor mothers had to take some kind of super human inner strength, a special kind of character to persevere day after day.
Ana does eventually leave the camp when the war ends. Her story has a happy ending where many others did not.
This book is well researched and written with sensitivity and caring, which comes across in every page read.
I highly recommend this story to all historical WWII fans.
Thank you to the publishers and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I( am leaving my honest review in return.

The Midwife Of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart is a powerful, horrifying historical novel set during a truly evil time and in a place that is the embodiment of evil. It is also a novel of hope, bravery and love.
The action moves from Lodz to Auschwitz as we follow two midwives. Being together helped to strengthen their resolve to survive. Amazingly they delivered over three thousand babies live babies over two years, not losing a single one at birth. It gave them a reason to hope whilst in the deepest pit.
As the Nazis moved the Jewish people out of their homes and into the ghetto, it felt like even God had abandoned them. “Searching for God. He was hard to find these days.” God was there, even when He couldn’t be felt. He walked alongside His people in their darkest hours.
As the Jewish people fought to survive, very few saw their pain but “ignorance was no excuse” to turn ones back on neighbours and friends. We do follow a Christian family, who with no thought to their own safety, did what they could, even though it could lead to the deepest pit.
In Auschwitz there were pockets of kindness among the women as well as some truly shocking scenes of unimaginable cruelty. The reader wonders what sort of a person could ever think the atrocities were acceptable behaviour.
Survival was a matter of chance. Clinging to hope the women realised, “staying alive was the only weapon they had.” They needed to stay alive to tell the world of the evil they had witnessed.
Hate drags a person down. Love lifts them up. “Hate may burn brightly, but love burns far longer.” Love in a heart drowns out hate.
The names of some of the characters are important – Ester, Ruth, Naomi – all have strong Biblical connotations reminding the reader that we are placed in situations ‘for such a time as this.’ The story of Ruth in the Bible is mirrored within the novel. ‘Where you go, I’ll go. Your God will be my God.’
The Midwife Of Auschwitz will break your heart. It will fill you with admiration too, and fill your heart with love as you witness love extended even in the deepest pit. It is a powerful story set at a time of great evil.
I will leave you with a powerful quote:
“[She] had not… been sure that she would be strong enough to withstand Nazi brutality, but God had been with her in that room full of hatred and His light had got her through it.”
I received a free copy via Net Galley. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

My favorite genre is historical fiction, particularly set during WWII. This book did not disappoint. It gave a unique perspective that I had not encountered in any other historical fiction book set during the Holocaust. It drew me in and despite being hard to digest I didn’t want to put it down.

Why did this happen there will never be an answer you read a book like this and all you can say is how did it happen
My
Families were lost and family that survived would never talk about what happen
Ester and Filip were in
Love with no idea what was going to
Happen to them and lots of other young people all they knew they had to survive to
Tell the world what had happened
How can you describe this book I am
Afraid I cannot

This novel is based on the true life experiences of the woman who was the real midwife of Auschwitz and the author has an afterword in which she writes about the woman, the camp and the general atrocities that Poland and her people experienced during WWIi.

The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart is a historical novel based on the lives of two women, Ana who is a midwife and Esther who is a young nurse. The storyline follows their lives from the beginning of the war, through their time in Auschwitz, through the end of the war and looking for their families trying to reestablish their lives.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction, as Stuart was meticulous in following historical facts, and I am glad she ended it as she did because happy endings didn't always happen. (less)
FRIEND REVIEWS

Wow other great read from Bookouture, that literally pulled my heart out of my chest , it had me feeling all of the emotions from happiness to sadness to fear for the characters themselves, and the writing captured the sorrow and despair they was going through. The author brought her characters to life as well as the places she talking about in her story.

Definitely hard to read considering I just became a mom so the arrival of Ester and Ana to Auschwitz and what they went through as soon as they went to their barrack. I loved the writing of Anna Stuart and I definitely would read more from her. Very well done.

Was this book written for me? A WW2 novel about a nurse and midwife? Right up my alley.

Unfortunately it fell a little bit flat. This may have been due to my not being super in the mood for this genre, but I wasn’t super keen to read. I did enjoy it however, and appreciated the take on midwifery in Auschwitz as I hadn’t read about it previously.

The novel flowed well, and the writing captured the sorrow and hope of childbirth in such a horrific place. I held so much hope in my heart for both of our MCs and so badly wanting a happy ending for them, one that was nearly impossible.

I’m very glad I read this one, and will keep an eye out for more books by Anna Stuart.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in return for an honest review.

What a heartbreaking story. I've read countless books set during World War 2, and even quite a few set in concentration camps and yet, this story is another reminder of how many stories there are still to be told. Ana and Ester's story is compelling and I can't imagine delivering that many babies in the concentration camps so unsure of the outcome for those babies and mothers. What strength and courage these women had in the face of absolute evil.

The book took me several chapters to really get into, but once I was in, I was hooked. Just as a heads up: There are a few rather graphic scenes that may disturb some readers.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to receive an advance readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

The heart retching story of two midwives - one Christian (Ana) and one Jewish (Esther) alternates between each woman's experience and perspective. This is one of the ONLY WWII books I have read that addresses the atrocity of giving birth in the death camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Inspired by true events, this book will take you into the flames of Hell that the Third Reich created.

Esther is a newlywed that is shoved to the Lotz, Poland ghetto and takes on the duty of Midwife to her fellow Jewish mothers forced into the slums. She does not have formal midwife training, but she harbors a friendship with the Midwife that birthed her years ago. Through a fence, she gets advice on how to successfully deliver a baby and puts her skills to the test.

As Ana and Esther end up on the same train to Auschwitz-Birkenau together, they know they must stay strong and band together to survive.

Although I did enjoy the book and the unique premise it was written, there were parts of the book that weren't unique to other WWII books I've read. For example, the heroic efforts of Mala, the family camps being gassed, and the Russian prisoners escaping from the camp.

As someone that has visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, this novel accurately describes the torture and horrendous living conditions the prisoner's experienced.

The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart set during World War 2. I really enjoyed this book, particularly the central characters. I look forward to reading more from the author in the future.