I found this audiobook powerful and heart-wrenching listening to Mandy Weston's excellent narration.

Each book I have read about the Holocaust and World War II has provided another piece of history I was not fully aware of and Auschwitz A Mother's Story is no different.

It is, as you can imagine, a very difficult book to read/listen to but it is also very powerful and inspirational and is a story that should be shared as all survivors accounts should be.

Many thanks to the author, Octopus Publishing, Moneray and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of this audiobook and for continuing to ensure that these stories continue to be published so they are not forgotten.

This is a deeply moving and heartbreaking memoir.

Like every survivor's account of Auschwitz, Rosa's story is both unique and profoundly sad. Her determination to endure the unimaginable in the hope of reuniting with her daughter adds a powerful layer of emotion to her narrative.

It's a traumatic, yet inspiring testament to a mother’s love and resilience amidst the horrors of the Holocaust.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

A breath-taking and heartbreaking recount of such a disturbing time in history. It was well worth a listen to see into a glimpse of such an important piece of history.

My 1st audio book and enjoyed it. Narrator was fabulous, pronouncement was really on point. Always saddened to remember the Holocaust but this book was great! Thanks so much for my audio-arc!

For context: As an Austrian, I am in the very privileged position to have very easy access to firsthand accounts like this in their original language, be it in written or (video)taped form. I think it is of utmost importance that these accounts get translated, published, and revisited over and over again. We must never forget.

The narrator of the audiobook can't pronounce German all that well, she's obviously dutch, which takes away a lot of authenticity in the reading. For someone who has no idea of how accounts like this actually come to be, the long introduction might be necessary, but I found myself becoming impatient with an intro that takes up about a third of the book.
The overall lenght is good for a class or reading group though. I was glued to the interviews with the author's relatives at the end, this was the more enlightening and touching part of contextualisation for me.

The author's account of her time in Buchenwald is harrowing and brutal, and I can only admire her strength and resilience in these unimaginable circumstances.

I just would have hoped for such an important and brave account to be framed better in terms of the lengthy introduction and rather abrupt ending.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Depending on the speed you choose, this is still only a few hours of listening, which makes it appealing to anyone wishing to hear a little of history from people who lived through these times.

Rosa writes that she was living with her husband and daughter during the Second World War in extremely tense, difficult, terrifying times always on edge until one day, the dreaded knock at their home arrived. They are asked to produce papers that are forged and out of date, meaning her family are immediately taken away. She is however greatful in this moment as she recounts how the people sent to the opposite side were immediately sent to gas Chambers whereas she went to the camp. Sadly, her husband was beaten to death, and she was separated from her daughter when they went to Aschwitz to be rekindled again 2 years later when she is moved to Odessa.

From Rosa's account of all she seen, endured, and survived, it gives the reader a grasp of her character, one of true resilience, strength, grit, determination, kindness, compassion, and so much more. She suffered regularly with disintry. Sadlt lost many whom she loved and cared for. However, she continued to keep on keeping on for the sake of her daughter and also the other women she shared camp with.

This was very well narrated, as it was written beautifully flowing and easy to listen to. In the beginning, there are alot.of names places etc shared which felt a little overwhelming. However, after this point, I was fully immersed in this story.

From around chapter 19 the audiobook then gives an account from another who shares his experiences which the narration albeit on its own would have been OK just felt a little out of place for me at that time after listening to the rest of the book.

With thanks to Netgalley & Octopus Audio for this ARC in return for an honest review.

Rosa and her family were in hiding before being captured and sent to Auschwitz. This is their story about living through hell. They suffer horror, starvation and humiliation but will they survive after the war as a family?

A truly well written book, sharing the life of Rosa de Winter-Levy’s personal story, written only a few months after the war. I listened to the audio book and enjoyed the narrator’s work.

Time pa sees but we must never forget what man can do to man and the struggle to survive.

Not my usual listen but when I saw this I had to request it as I visited Auschwitz earlier this year and it really got to me how the prisoners suffered , This is a story of survival and well worth a listen I also listen to additional material at the end of the book

I have read many books about people who survived Auschwitz and they are all without exception, moving and disturbing in their different ways. This is Rosa's account of her time in the concentration camp and afterwards in Odessa, wondering what had become of her husband and daughter.
After this book was an excerpt from another story about a gypsy and his family who were also sent to Auschwitz, and was equally compelling and sad.

Auschwitz will forever remain the black hole of the entire human history. -Isaac Herzog

This book was written during the months following the war by Rosa de Winter-Levy. Rosa shares how she, her husband, Emanuel, and their daughter, Judy were betrayed after being in hiding for a year and a half. The family was separated after they arrived in Auschwitz.

Rosa was a caring person who helped other women survive while watching many perish, including Edith Frank, Anne Frank's mother. She herself, came very close to death, and miraculously survived the selection for the gas chambers on multiple occasions. She spent her entire time at Auschwitz, like so many others, she worried about her loved ones who were also at the camp.

This is Rosa's own written story and shows her unwavering love for her daughter, her compassion for others, her resiliency and her strength. It is a short book/audiobook, but she manages to include so much within the short pages. This book comprises of her journal entries and gives readers a glimpse into a dark time in history.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narration was wonderful. It is a short moving and powerful book and can easily be listened or read in a few hours.

It's hard to rate and review something like this, but I wholeheartedly recommend it. The introduction, then Rosa's journal entries and finally the interviews with her grandchildren are invaluable pieces of history.

Many Weston narrates the audiobook flawlessly and the overall production was perfect.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ALC. It is one I will never forget