The Tattooist of Auschwitz is based on the Lale Sokolov’s Life during the Holocaust.

Lale spent most of his time in Birkenau but frequently travelled to Auschwitz to tattoo the numerous victims arriving every day. In the middle of the Jewish genocide, Lale finds his future wife, Gita.

Throughout the novel we learn more about the relationship between Lale and Gita while being told what had happened in the concentration camps and more importantly, what it took to survive.

This is Lale’s experience of the Holocaust of the few who have survived and the even fewer who have shared their story. The Holocaust was a terrible point in human history but Lale’s story demonstrates courage and is a moving recollection of the unimaginable events that happened less than 80 years ago.

This book has become one of my favourite novels and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to learn more about what the world was like in the early 40s.

Heather Morris also wrote Cilka’s Journey which is a story of one of the friends Lale makes in Birkenau.