I really enjoyed this book - I say "enjoyed" but really it's a harrowing reminder of what atrocities human beings are capable of. The story is told in such a way that you are gripped from the outset, but all the way through you have a sad feeling in your heart.

Beautiful, heartbreaking, necessary. A must read.
We often associate only the German Nazis with the vicious antisemitism that led to the horror of the holocaust, but it is worth understanding that it was rfe across Europe as this heart-rending account shows. Far more stood silent than drove the atrocities and we cannot allow that to happen again, which is I think the message to be found here. If we can't lovecour neighbours, we should at least seek to accept our differences and offer peace.
Edith Eger survived against all the odds, and not only survived but kept her wn humanity and capacity for love.
This short but powerful story is told with a mix of brutal honesty and beautiful reminisce and is wholly unputdownable until the final, generous, learn-from, sentence.

Such a sad true story of survival, love, hate, soul searching with a beautiful ending.

I’m so glad Edith decided to go back to Auschwitz and that it helped her put certain things to perspective. So happy she found love with Bela, her soulmate and it was amazing how brave and strong Edith and Magda were and how such a tragic event pulled them closer as sisters

Thank you Netgalley for the great opportunity to read something so heart wrenching by a strong, beautiful author. I need to read The Choice and The Gift now

Everybody needs to read this book! Edith Eger's retelling of her book 'The Choice' for a YA audience is an important historic memoir. It is harrowing and hopeful at the same time. An honest account of her experience and survival of the second world war as a 16-year old. Her inner strength is incredible and helped her through the horrors of the time. An incredibly powerful book.

Having read The Choice I was interested to read the YA edition and it certainly has the same emotional depth and impact. While this version does not include the stories of Eger's patients it still promotes the same message of hope and resilience.

A dark story all the more uncomfortable for knowing it is true. This is a difficult read making the reader face a terrible history but also a story that - slowly and painfully - shows that we can survive and that our love for our fellow humans can drive us to help them too to survive . Beautifully and sensitively written and a valuable lesson.

The Ballerina of Auschwitz is a retelling of The Choice with approximately 30 per cent entirely new material, which offers readers both a more expansive and more intimate understanding of Edith’s journey.

I am humbled by Edith's story, her strength to share it with the world and her outlook on life as shared both in The Choice and in The Ballerina of Auschwitz.

It is a very emotional read, much of which is hard to accept actually happened as it is so brutal.

I am forever grateful to Edith and other survivors for sharing their stories. To see that there was hope in all the misery, "if I can survive today, then tomorrow I will be free".

Her realisation that to continue living, rather than simply existing, there is a choice - "to pay attention to what we’ve lost or to pay attention to what we still have".

Thank you.

This story is about Edith who was sent to Auschwitz in 1944 aged just sixteen, along with her Mother and sister.
In a life before this she had been a ballerina, a heartbreaking story and told through the eyes 0f a young girl painful and emotional.

I haven't read Edith's original memoir The Choice, but I've since requested to reserve it at my local library. If this beautiful yet harrowing book is anything to go by I know I'll enjoy it.

When I say 'enjoy it', it leaves me with a pit in my stomach, these aren't the right words to express when reading about Edith's awful experience.
I appreciated her sharing with us her life before during and after the war. Which is something that actually sets her memoir apart from others. We got a full picture of the true devastation, not just physically but mentally also.

The message given to us through Edith's words are that we always have a choice, and what a valuable memo to be reminded of. Edith's strength, resilience and determination speak volumes and it left me feeling positive despite the horrors she experienced.

I highly recommend everyone read this book not just the younger audience.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC of this book!

I absolutely adore Edith Eger’s writing and The Choice is one of my favourite books, so it came as no surprise that I loved this one just as much. Though I can see how this has been adapted to suit a young adult audience, I don’t feel that it takes away from the messages or severity Eger speaks of throughout. The way in which she writes about what she faced is astounding in that she manages to be so self-aware and allowed me as a reader to empathise with such horrific experiences, without having ever dealt with anything so traumatic.

Despite being such a dark subject, Eger’s knowledge of psychology shines through in allowing you to understand how she was affected by her experience in a way that made me unable to put this book down. The way Eger speaks of her life now, and the happiness she is surrounded by, makes this book incredibly poignant and left me feeling positive in spite of the horrors she describes.

I would highly recommend this book to all audiences, not just young adults, and feel it’s especially important to understand this history given the state of the current world.

An unforgettable memoir, written by Edith Eger which chronicles before, during and after the war.
She is 16 when she is taken to Auschwitz with her Mother & Sister.
This poignant, personal narrative tells of the trauma & suffering the prisoners endured but most of all, it's full of hope & resilience, to ensure that history is never forgotten.
A must read for everyone!

Thankyou to Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There are many books written in this genre but few are about Jews who lived outside Germany. This features a Hungarian family living in Czechoslovakia at the outbreak of the Second World War. As a result the poignancy of the Nazi Regime’s reach so far from its core is laid bare. It is not a book for the faint hearted as it is hard hitting with regard to the hardships. It is well written and does have an interesting end.

Edith was sent to Auschwitz in 1944 aged just sixteen, along with her Mother and sister.
In a life before she had been a ballerina.
This is her heartbreaking story and told through the eyes 0f a young girl.

I’ve not read Edith’s other book but this one was harrowing yet honest and beautifully written. Describing her life from just before WW2 breaks out to the late 1980’s. She takes us from life as a free teenager to living in Auschwitz to the 80’s when she revisits Germany and Poland. Thanks to Edith, her family and publisher. Thanks also to NetGalley

I feel so very sad at what human beings do to each other. That Edith survived the horrors of the concentration camps is a testament to her resilience and inner strength. This book should be read by all high school students. It is a story that must be remembered and never happen again.

Well written but harrowing as to be expected really. It is an extraordinary journey from a happy every day normal life through the fear and terrors of transportation. The descent into the horrors of Auschwitz and the dreadful treatment of people treated worse than animals. The biggest sadness of how close some came to be liberated and how many died in the last days of the war.

Emotional, traumatic, yet somehow heartwarming.
Edith is the youngest daughter on a Jewish family in Hungary (or Czechoslovakia, as was, depending on who was ruling the area!). Under neither was it a good time to be a Jew.
Edith is a teenager, with nothing to worry her, until war breaks out - the Second World War. Eventually, already ostracised, the rounding up begins end we read of the trauma of concentration camps, long walks and cover ups.
Deeply moving.

The Ballerina of Auschwitz: Young Adult Edition of The Choice (kindle) by Edith Eger was a very moving account of her incarceration and survival in German concentration camps. This book is a dramatic retelling of The Choice. Release date October 3rd 2024.

Edith along with her Mother Father and two sisters were taken to Auschwitz and on their arrival her Father sees the words above the gates "Work sets you free." and he assumed that he was to work here until the war was over along with his family.

Age only sixteen Edith who was a trained gymnast and ballerina along with her sisters would see their parents taken away from them and only a trail of smoke left behind as their lives were wiped out by the gas chambers within the camp.

Edith's body will be broken but her spirit and mind will survive the holocaust as she repeated the words that was her mantra “No one can take away from you what you've put in your mind.”

Edith will dance in front of the Angel of death Josef Mengele for a loaf of bread which she shared. Edith will witness malnutrition, bitter cold, cannibalism, cruelty and torture.

I have also read The Choice (book 1) by Edith which was also very moving.

This is the story of Edith Eger who at the age of 16 was sent to Auschwitz along with her mother and sister. Her father had already been taken and another sister had avoided the selection. It’s never easy to read the story of a survivor, however these stories need to be told, and read.

Edith and her sister survive the camps and death march and Edith went on to become an internationally renowned psychologist whose specialty is post-traumatic stress disorder. Somehow, despite every horror she witnessed Edith always held on to a future with hope. She is a true inspiration of possibility, hope and resiliency.

If you have read her first book The Choice you will recognise the story as this book is a condensed version of it. She says she did this to bring her work to a younger audience. It is suitable for everyone and needs to be read by all.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having previously read and loved The Choice by Edith Eger, I was excited to read this retelling ‘The Ballerina of Auschwitz’

At 16years old Edith was sent alongside her mother, father and sister to Auschwitz. We learn of the horrors she and her family endured in the camps and a true memoir of survival. Although this book recollection didn’t focus on dancing much, prior to arriving in Auschwitz Edith was an aspiring gymnast and ballerina.
We learn of loss within Egers family alongside her first love Eric. Despite all the events endured and extreme illness by Edith and her sister, both fight for survival upon liberation were both sisters return to their home time and discover their older sisters’ survival still living in their family home.

Despite this being an abridged version of ‘The Choice’ it’s still a very powerful, moving read full of resilience.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC of this book!