‘The violinist of Auschwitz’ by Ellie Midwood is a historical fiction book that is based upon a true story. A book set during the Holocaust that straight away throws you into a very powerful and dark time.
It is about an Austrian woman called Alma Rose. I have never heard of her until this time, but with a story that hits so hard it will be a woman I won’t forget easily now. Alma was a woman, a violinist, who got caught up in the living hell that was Auschwitz. While there, she was recognised as the famous violinist that she was by the head of the women’s camp. She was appointed as the conductor for the orchestra that played as the inmates marched to work, at first she refused but then she realised by doing this she could get better treatment and extra rations for herself and the other members in the orchestra. Alma creates an orchestra that performs for the SS Officers. The orchestra becomes so large as she makes sure as many girls can be saved by playing in it. She meets Miklos, a very talented piano player and composer who was celebrated in Europe before the war too. Their shared love of music and everything connected to it helps them to fall in love surrounded by the despair and death of the camp. This one simple thing helps to give Alma the strength to get through every day.
A story that I found so difficult in parts. Auschwitz was a death camp, with Mengele firmly installed doing his ‘experiments’. I read this story and the starkness of the conditions, the horror the camp inmates survived (or didn’t) daily was like a punch in the face. I have previously read Holocaust books and they have all affected me to varying degrees but this book, with its hard-hitting details and brilliantly researched story, hit the hardest.
Ellie Midwood actually based this book on the testaments from a few survivors from the camps and many said if it wasn’t for Alma, they would never have survived. How do you effectively portray that in a book? Well, this author has managed it and done an excellent job in showing us the harshness of the reality of specifically Auschwitz.
A very real, bleak but uplifting and very emotional account of Alma’s time there. My words do not do this story justice, my advice… read the book!
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the copy of the book for my review today.
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