This incredible novel follows the lives of two nurses from Łódź, Poland, starting in 1939 until the end of the war. Ester Abrams is a nurse, training under Ana Kaminski, a well-known midwife to the area. The day the love of her life, Filip, proposes to her, is the day Germany invades Poland, and only moments after the proposal, German planes fly overhead. The day of their wedding, SS soldiers disrupt the celebration, nearly turning their wedding from a celebration to a blood bath. Not long after we follow Ester & Filip to the Ghettos, moving in with both of their parents and siblings. We follow Ana as she and her family tries desperately to help the Jewish families that have done no wrong, going so far as to smuggle people out of the ghettos.
As they both try to save others from the trains, though, everything gets turned upside down and both Ester and Ana find themselves bound for Auschwitz. Their only saving grace is their knowledge of midwifery, which is put to test the moment they enter the horrors of the maternity ward. As they try desperately to save both mothers and babies, losing far too many babes to their circumstances, never to the birthing process, the SS Guards take only the healthiest to be raised in "proper" German homes. Secretly the two midwives start tattooing the newborns with their mother's identification number, in the hopes that they would one day be reunited.

I absolutely loved this book. Writing this review made me want to reread it, but I have to resist & give some space, because the topics are so heavy. I read this book while sick with Covid & stayed up until 3am despite being exhausted because I just couldn’t put it down. It will make you laugh a little and cry a lot. I had never heard of the tattoos on children and I am so glad that someone is bringing light to it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and Bookouture via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This book is fictional however it tells a story of something that actually happened during WWII. I don’t typically read many historical fictions however when I do they end up really sticking with me and this book will always be in the back of my
mind. The author really made me feel the horrors of what women experienced giving birth in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Ana is a midwife who delivered thousands of babies, many did not survive however the ones that did would be taken away and adopted out to German families thus being separated from their birth families even when their birth families had wanted them. Ana and Ester, her friend, a nurse, worked together by coming up with a plan that could possibly reunite these babies with their birth family after the war was over. This book is a must read!

This is the first book that I’ve read by this author and oh my word what an absolutely outstanding read this was. To say this book was an excellent read doesn’t even do it justice, it’s a story filled with sadness, deep emotions, heartbreak, resilience in the most hardest of times, friendship and bravery. What these people suffered during these awful times would make even the most hardest of hearts break. This book will stay with me for a very long time and is the second book to go into my top 10 reads of 2022.

Thank you to the author and publishers for allowing me to be an arc reader for this book. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres and this book did not disappoint in that regard. It was incredibly well researched and written with delicacy and care. 3,000 babies were born in Auschwitz during WWII. 3,000! This isn’t even something that I comprehended or considered before reading this. This book will get you so attached to the characters and stories and give you a new perspective on the horrors of Auschwitz, through the eyes of the midwife who delivered all 3,000 babies. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Heartbreaking, shocking, unbelievable, and harrowing. These are just four words that only make a dent in how The Midwife of Auschwitz will make you feel. Inspiring, courageous, graphic and brilliant. Another four words that only make a dent in how Anna Stuart has written about and portrayed the events that occurred in Auschwitz-Birkenau between 1943 and 1944, from the point of view of the midwives that were imprisoned there but who helped to birth over 3000 babies during that time.

Ester and Ana, one Jewish and one Catholic, become friends and ultimately end up in the concentration camp. Ana is there because she has become part of the resistance and is captured as she tries to help others. We follow the journey of the two women and those they care for as World War II continues and they await liberation.

I’m finding it difficult to express how I feel about The Midwife of Auschwitz. I just love, love, love reading about events during both World War I and II and in particular, books that are inspired by true events. Yes, this was hard-going in parts, but a real page-turner too. All the time, I was completely appalled by the actions of the Nazis, but also astounded by how the women reacted to them and continued to fight for their lives. After all, what had they got to live for if not hope?

Anna Stuart is an incredible author and The Midwife of Auschwitz is an incredible story. Brilliantly researched and sympathetically written. I cannot imagine how difficult this was to research. It’s painful enough just reading it over a few days, but to research for months is just astounding.

As I’ve said before in my reviews, everyone should know the atrocities of the Second World War and fiction based on true events is a great way to learn.

I am lucky enough to be a part of Books on Tour for this, so thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart.

4.5 rounded up
Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the e-ARC in exchange for my review.

Wow! I’ve read many WW2 books, but never one like this. Following a Polish midwife, based on real life Polish midwife Stanislawa Leszczynska, and her younger Jewish nurse friend, we watch as they endure the horrific setting of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the infamous concentration camp.
Ana was arrested after being suspected of helping Jewish people flee Łódź. After months of interrogation, she is lead to a train that will take her to her new life at Birkenau - in hopes that she will eventually break and give up information.
At the same time, Ester, a resident of the ghetto, stands up for her mother and is added to the list of people that are being taken to the camp. As she tries to sneak away from the crowd, she runs into Ana.
Together, they begin their harrowing journey through WW2 within a concentration camp. They become the midwives and help deliver thousands of babies - one being Ester’s. After so many babies came into the world, only to have their little lives snuffed out or taken for Germanization, Ester begins tattooing the mother’s numbers onto the baby, in hopes they can one day be reunited.

This book shed light on a topic that I don’t think is really discussed when it comes to WW2. What happened to the babies that were born in these torture camps? I’ve read many WW2 books, but never one about these little lives. I absolutely love the tale of Ana and Ester and rooted for them throughout the book. I fell in love with them and their strength. This book was well researched and touched upon a lot of things that happened in real life. I couldn’t put it down.

As for the ending - while I’m sad Ester was not reunited with her baby, I think that this would have been the easy way out for the author. It would have made it seem “easy” for women to be reunited with their babies because of Ester’s actions, when in all reality, many women that were at Auschwitz-Berkinau did not make it out alive and if they did, they probably never saw their babies again.

Wow. What a heartbreaking story. Learning about what happened with babies and children during the Holocaust breaks my heart. I’m sad those children even had to live through a second of that. This author did a great job with this story. Research was done very well. Thank you for the advanced copy of this book. This one will still with me for a life time

Loved this book
Brilliant writing amazing story line
Read this in one sitting no breaks as I couldn’t put it down
This was just amazingly brilliant to read
Made me tear up at points

Amidst the brutality of Auschwitz, Ana's midwife skills are in demand, even though most of the babies born in this camp are not permitted to live or are stolen by the Nazis to become part of their Aryan dominance plans. When a close friend is pregnant, Ana's vows to try to protect at least 1 of these babies. Uplifting, although sometimes disturbing writing.

“One woman’s fight for love, life and hope during a time of unimaginable darkness”



When writing a review, it is all too easy to churn out those much used epithets such as ‘heart-breaking’, ‘heart-wrenching’, or ‘a tear-jerker’ and whilst this book falls into all these categories and so many more besides, I genuinely do defy even the most stalwart reader, not to shed a tear or two over this storyline.

Whether you read it first, as I did, or when you have finished the book, you really do need to check out the ‘Historical Notes’ addendum. It explains clearly, the synergy between actual events and characters, which have been so well researched and then sympathetically and painstakingly rendered into this WWII fictional tour de force, which absolutely demands undivided attention and quality reading time…

It is not often that wartime fictional stories, which are largely centred around Nazi labour camps, are narrated almost exclusively from a female perspective. A brave gambit by the author, which she has executed to perfection and with total empathy, highlighting a storyline which definitely needed to be told and that held me in thrall from the very first sentence, to the very final word. I had never really given any thought to the need for midwives in the concentration camps and the ensuing emotional agony of mothers who did, by some miracle, happen to survive childbirth, only to have their babies so cruelly snatched away from them. Some of the facts are so distasteful, that the cruelty is almost beyond belief or comprehension.

…

Hopefully spoiler free, here is a race through the storyline…

It is 1939, in Lodz, Poland. Trainee nurse, Ester, meets and falls madly in love with apprentice tailor, Filip. As war breaks out they decide to marry, anticipating that, as Jews, they may either both have to flee the country, or that they may be separated for some time. Their parents are only too happy that the young couple should confirm their love for one another and grab whatever happiness they can, as they know only too well, what wrath is about to be heaped upon their people by the German Nazi regime. Also present at the marriage are the non Jewish, Kaminski family, as Ester and long established midwife, Ana have become firm friends, despite the difference in their ages, which makes their relationship more like that of mother and daughter.

After just a few short days and with the war intensifying, life takes a very sudden and much more horrendous turn for the population, than they could have ever thought possible. The city is divided into sectors; one ghetto for the Jews, one area for all the non-Jews, with the remaining much larger properties being given over to the occupying Nazis and their families. Ana’s home has been designated as falling within the Jewish ghetto, so she, her husband and three young adult sons are forced to move across town, whilst Ester, Filip and both their extended families find themselves sharing and squashed into a tiny house, inside the newly cordoned off ghetto, where they are kept living on the point of starvation, although with both of them plying trades of value to the occupiers, they are permitted to continue working, when many others can’t. As there are other general nurses, but no dedicated midwife in the compound, Ester decides to enlist Ana’s help to train herself, so that she can help those women in need. Ana and her family are active resistance members and risk their lives to smuggle food and nursing manuals into the ghetto, whilst taking advantage of every possible opportunity to help some of the Jews escape, including Ester’s teenage sister.

Suddenly things take an altogether more sinister twist of fate, when the elderly, the infirm, and the youngest children, are rounded up and ostensibly sent to be housed, in the newly built labour camp of Auschwitz. Rumours soon spread about the terrible atrocities committed within its confines, so when Ester’s mother, Ruth becomes one of the ‘chosen’, all efforts are made to save her. Caught up in the ensuing melee, somehow both Ester and Ana also find themselves taken captive and for the remaining duration of the war, are incarcerated in this living hell on earth, kept alive and relatively well, by using the medical skills they have, when so many around them meet an altogether more agonising and often terminal fate. However, their resourcefulness and bravery, come at a huge physical and emotional cost which almost breaks them, especially Ester. Both cruelty and kindness are shown on both the side of the aggressors and their fellow detainees, as everyone fights to survive in the best way they can. So much so, that when a Nazi doctor is challenged by Ester and Ana, and is forced to speak up for his Hippocratic oath, their relief is unbounded, as every small step is seen as a victory for the women and their unborn children. Even the Lebensborn programme is more acceptable than the terrifying alternative, although it was ultimately only a tiny percentage of babies who matched the criteria and were selected. For them, Ester carries out the only procedure she can think of, in the hope that when war is over, those mothers and babies who have survived, stand some small chance of being reunited.

When liberation is in sight, Ester and Ana, together with a small handful of women from Lodz, are lucky enough to be offered a way home without the need for any delays or red tape, which they grasp with open arms. News from family had stopped arriving some time ago, so it is with an air of trepidation that they enter the city, not knowing what they will find and more importantly, who amongst them has survived. There is good and bad news for both ladies, reunions tinged with sadness for those who will not be joining them, and the aching loss and search which Ester will never give up on, as she continues to try and find the missing piece of her, which will bind her to Filip forever.

…

The compassionate honesty and integrity of this totally immersive, multi-layered storyline, really shines through in its fluent and well structured writing. The story is powerful, intense and highly textured, with an all pervading claustrophobic atmosphere of mistrust and fear. Although events elsewhere in the theatre of war may be moving rapidly and are fast changing, for the women of Auschwitz it is as though time has stood still, as each day highlights anew the strength and resilience of the female spirit to carry a child to full term in such perilous conditions and evokes the same relentless battle and drive to survive, even though fate and the Nazi doctors, decree that your newborn probably won’t. Despite the decimated locations of a country in turmoil and the terrible conditions in which the unfortunate and totally innocent detainees were incarcerated, some beautifully nuanced and descriptive narrative and dialogue, afford a terrifying and all-encompassing visual and evocative sense of time and place, lifting the sights, sounds and smells from the page, as I took my ‘armchair journey’ back in time.

Anna affords that same attention to detail and visual inclusion, to her eclectic cast of characters, no matter how small a part they play in the whole. They are well developed and defined, and whilst not all are easy to connect or empathise with, the overall dynamics and synergy between them, makes them completely investable, genuine and authentic in their individual roles, as they are given a generous and strong voice with which to tell of their courageous efforts of resilience over adversity. They represent a complex jigsaw of vulnerable human emotions, which are laid bare when the fragility of the lines between life and death, defeat and survival, love and hate, trust and duplicity, the frailty of the human mind and indeed their very existence, are drawn. However a raw addictive passion and the determined will to survive, overcomes the odds stacked against them, although not all are destined to be reunited with loved ones.

What always makes reading such a wonderful experience for me, is that with each and every new book, I am taken on a unique and individual journey, by authors who fire my imagination, stir my emotions and stimulate my senses. This story was definitely one of a kind, having the power to evoke so many feelings, that I’m sure I won’t have felt the same way about it as the last reader, nor the next, so I can only recommend that you read The Midwife Of Auschwitz for yourself and see where your journey leads you!

Such a hard subject to write and read about. Stuart did a good job expressing the pain and honoring those who the story is about via this historical fiction. The Nightingale is one of my all time favorite books and this gave very similar vibes with the story and specifically the ending.

It’s harrowing story of Ava aka Stanisława Leszczyńska who delivered 3,000 babies while imprisoned at Auschwitz’s. The strength it took her to survive plus the hope she gave to mothers of reconnecting with their babies after liberation was likely the only way many of the imprisoned mothers survived.

Definitely look at trigger warnings before reading. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read before it’s release in exchange for my review.

I have read a lot of novels based on the horrors of World War II but none made my heart ache and weep like this one. Anna takes her writing to a whole new level with this powerful, gut-wrenching story based on the holocaust. Despite the hate that runs like a foul river through the actions of these Nazi rulers, this story is brimming with undying love, indescribable perseverance, soul-stretching courage and undefeatable will.

The research on this novel would have been massive yet the author has gathered and utilised it so well it feels like she lived through the experiences herself. I have watched a number of videos and read articles on the terrible things that happened in the concentration camps. This novel, in many ways, is quite accurate and definitely true to the people, activities and events. The author has done a fabulous job weaving fact with fiction into The Midwife of Auschwitz.

To start with: the inspiration behind this epic story is based on the true account of one woman, a Polish midwife, Stanislawa Leszczynska, who exhibited unprecedented courage, determination and love for those who were suffering. As a midwife she entered the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp and over the course of her captivity, delivered over three thousand babies. The author uses these facts to create the character of Ana Kaminski. Although not following all of Stanislawa’s life, there are enough pieces to give us a pure sense of the horrors experienced. And Ana, the character, has been beautifully fashioned to exhibit the same strengths. Her faith sustains her in the face of so much death. The atrocities carried out before her eyes would have broken any feeling human being. But rather than fall under the scythe of the Nazi regime, she takes it upon herself to be a light in the darkness, to comfort the captives, to act with purpose and stay alive. Ana is passionate about her mission and as she says: “Being a midwife was the one thing she truly knew and the one thing she would do until they were all, finally freed.”

But as gallant as Ana’s aspirations are, and as successful as she is in delivering children and helping mothers as best she can, over and over again, slivers of hope rise, only to be dashed on the rocks of despair as loved ones are torn from the hearts and arms of the victims. The author writes of this blood curdling cruelty inflicted by the Nazis on these poor suffering souls with such detail and accuracy, you feel as if you are in the camp with them huddling in corners afraid to move. It’s a stark picture of how far humans can fall under the influence of evil, pride and delusion. It is shocking to see how merciless a human can become once given over to a cultish political mindset. The level of the acts of torture a human can inflict on another is mind bending. The horror and grief these women, men and children had to bear was unimaginable.

The story is told not only through Polish midwife Ana Kaminski but also through Jewish nurse Ester Pasternak. They are both sent to the same concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Their professions allow them to be spared as they are useful to the Nazis. They each experience some horrific things but together try to save the children by tattooing them in a special spot so that one day mother and child may reunite. Of course, providing any of them survive. In the real world, and in fiction, things don’t always go as planned but Ana’s and Ester’s efforts are admirable and their courage inspiring.

The story is grim and at times very hard to read due to the nature of the content but under a dark tapestry of evil runs the light threads of hope. No matter how much the Nazis tried to extinguish these people’s lives, those who could fight back, did, with all the strength they could muster. For Ana’s words echo across the halls of devastation “staying alive is our only weapon.”

This novel covers so many things, including the after effects of war. Even those who survived by rescue or escape, once returning home, had a hard journey to normalcy. Would any of their loved ones be left? Would they reunite? Adjusting to freedom again proved difficult, once they left the barbed wire fences and confining walls. Many scars remained, not only on their bodies but also on their minds. This torture had such negative effects that, at times, the Nazi persecution turned the victim’s ‘blood to ice’. The repetition of horrors disengaged their hearts to the violence they saw. It was a survival mechanism to prevent the risk of going mad.

“This place is a hellhole of misery and suffering, where women and babies come to die.” Yet Ana delivered 3000 babies in the camp. Over sixty had been taken to be Germanised and Ester had managed to tattoo most of them with the hopes one day mother and child could be reunited when the war ended.

This novel is beautifully written and will break your heart over and over again. Yes, you will not want to stop reading and will definitely need your tissues for this story will strike every cord of humanity in you and make you feel every emotion possible. Author Anna Stuart has done an amazing job and, although the trail of sorrow runs far and wide, a major message in The Midwife of Auschwitz shines through: love will triumph over hate. 5 Plus Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for a review copy.

Content Warnings: abortion, childbirth, rape, religious persecution, shooting, infanticide, death

Through a dual POV from Ana and Ester, we get another retelling of the Holocaust through “The Midwife of Auschwitz”. Split up into three parts, this story talks about the thousands of babies born in Auschwitz.

Part one focuses on the background of both Ana and Ester. Ester, a self-made nurse in a Jewish ghetto, finds her way in Auschwitz when trying to save her mother. Ana, a midwife, ends up in Auschwitz as a political prisoner with ties to the Resistance. Although part one began slowly, the story truly built in part two. Part two focuses on the life inside Auschwitz, especially in the maternity ward. The violence and cold-heartedness of the Kapos is heartbreaking for two women that bring life into the world. Part three focuses on the liberation of the camp and life after camp for these two women.

This was another group of holocaust survivors that I would not have otherwise known about. This was a difficult read, especially with so much infanticide. If you enjoy reading about WWII, women’s history, or the Third Reich.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @bookouture for my e-arc of THE MIDWIFE OF AUSCHWITZ by @annastuartauthor in exchange for an honest review. This one publishes Tuesday, May 31! This one gets 4.5 stars from me!

Wow. I loved this story. It almost feels wrong to say that, because it was also so sad and heartbreaking. Ever since I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz, I have been drawn to books Center Ed around the hardships the prisoners have faced while at these death camps. Each time I read one of these stories, my heart breaks all over again for all these innocent people had to endure.

What is maybe even harder? Being a midwife and having the joy of bringing babies into the world, but because they are born in a death camp, you know heartbreak is coming all too quickly. Some were killed, but some were placed into German families in attempts to “Germanize” them. This is what happened to Esther, and finding her daughter after the war is over, is the hope she has been holding on to.

Esther and Ana were such strong female characters. They survived Auschwitz because of each other, and the love they had for those they left behind in Łódź.

Historical fiction books centred around WW2 are my favourite to read, and this one was no exception. While it does talk about hard topics, that is what makes this book so much more worth it to read. I cannot wait to read more from this author!

The Midwife of Auschwitz is an incredibly well written book, which is based upon true events.
The story follows Polish Midwife Ana, and her lifelong friend Ester, a young Jewish nurse, on the most harrowing of journeys. From the German occupation of their hometown Lodz, then the creation of the Jewish ghettos and families being forced from their homes, right through to their arrival at Auschwitz concentration camp... this book details the heart-breaking suffering of so many innocent people that Ana & Ester meet throughout their time there.
On arriving at Auschwitz they are saved from the gas chambers, only by their nursing qualifications and their capability to work, and are instantly sent to work as midwives in the maternity block. The horrors that occurred there are truly disturbing, but it's so very important that this story is told.
Babies were murdered, starved and ripped from their mothers' arms soon after birth for the twisted Lebensborn Project, where their precious babies were sent off to be 'Germanised' and live with 'good German families'. Eventually, Ana & Ester found a way to mark the babies with their mothers' camp numbers, in hope that one day after liberation they may be reunited... the tiniest of tattoos, hidden away under the folds in each baby's armpit. There is so much more to this story but I don't want to drop any real spoilers!
I could not put this book down. and was desperate to see if the ending would be as I was hoping for. Sadly these stories will never truly have a 'happy' ending.
Although the book is an absolute tear-jerker, it also highlights the huge courage, resilience and unity of all those poor souls, despite their horrendous suffering and the impossible conditions they faced whilst imprisoned in Auschwitz.
Thanks to NetGalley, Publisher Bookouture and Author Anna Stuart for this digital ARC in return for my honest review of the book..

As much as I have enjoyed Anna Stuart's "based on true stories" tales woven with fiction, I found THE MIDWIFE OF AUSCHWITZ an incredibly heartbreaking one to read. Although all stories about the Holocaust the the crimes against humanity are just as heartbreaking, I am finding it incresingly difficult to read them. However, as difficult as it was to read this one, I'm glad I did. It was a different tale although it began like any other Holocaust story with Jews being ripped of their identities, moved into stinking ghettos before being deported to death camps or the like. It wasn't until they reached Auschwitz that the story took a slightly different turn.

Ester was a young nurse, who is Jewish, living and working in Lodz in Poland when she and her new husband Filip Pasternak along with their families were rounded up and rehoused in the new ghetto as the Germans overtook their town. Their house had been given over to the Germans to house troops while they now lived in barely two rooms all together.

Ana Kaminski, a Catholic Pole, has worked as a midwife for two decades. Alongside her, her dear friend Ester Pasternak learns the art of birthing as together they bring new life into the world in the ghetto and beyond.

Until one day, ripped from her husband and her family, Ester finds herself on a train bound for Auschwitz in the hope of saving her dying mother. In the cattle-car she is shocked to find her friend and mentor, Ana, looking a shadow of her former self. Together the two women arrive at Auschwitz with the idealistic notion that they can help save the women and their babies. But Auschwitz was nothing if not cruel and unforgiving, the SS officers even more so. The barbaric cruelties they are forced to face change the way they see the world whilst trying to maintain some form of hope. For if they have no hope, what do they have?

In Auschwitz, Ana and Ester bring 3000 babies into the world. Some lived, some died. But through each mother's pain, the two women gave each of them hope...even if it were to die tomorrow. And then a new cruelty is to be inflicted upon them. Perfect blonde babies will be selected from the newborns for Germanisation, ripped from their mother's arms as they suckle to be brought up in "good Fuhrer loving homes". These selections are the worst kind of cruelty.

So Ester devises a plan to one day bring hope to these families torn apart by tattooing the little ones with their mother's numbers, in the hope that they may be reunited once the war is over and the camp has been liberated. In the meantime, they continue to help each other drawing on one another's strength and resilience to make it through.

But then Ana notices the familiar signs and a small bump beneath Ester's thin clothing...

I was both saddened and angered by this tale. Though I shouldn't be surprised at the Nazi's cruelties during that time. The barbaric nature of such inhumanity resonated with me that my heart ached for the women. Already they had been stripped of everything and still they wanted to take even more? How mankind can inflict such cruelties upon each other is beyond me.

Alternating between the narratives of both Ester and Ana, THE MIDWIFE OF AUSCHWITZ is a heartwrenching tale of friendship, motherhood and survival. How anyone can survive a death camp is remarkable. My heart ached for both women but particularly young Ester.

By the end of the book I was just heartbroken that it hadn't ended how I thought it would. But it was still a satisfying end and a tearful one at that. Anna Stuart tells a wonderful tale and is a skillfull storyteller. I absolutely LOVED "The Secret Diary" but this one was just that more heartbreaking.

I would like to thank #AnnaStuart, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheMidwifeOfAuschwitz in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart is a novel of heartbreak and hope, based on a true story of courage in the face of evil. Ana Kaminski is taken to Auschwitz where she declares that she is a midwife, and her friend Ester Pasternak is her assistant. They are sent to work in the maternity area, where pregnant prisoners are sent to deliver. Some of these babies are sent to Dr. Josef Mengele for experiments, some a killed and some who meet the "Aryan" criteria are sent to be adopted by good German citizens. When Ana realizes the war is coming close to an end, she has the idea to mark the babies with tattoos of their mother's numbers so after the war they can be matched to them. Many babies are tattooed, giving hope that someday, someway, they might be reunited with their mothers.

A heartbreaking, yet hopeful book, I highly recommend it! Thank you to the author,Bookouture and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Ester and her new husband Filip Pasternak, along with their parents and siblings, were rounded up and sent to the new Ghetto in Lotz as the Germans infiltrated the town more and more. Their home was given to the troops while they had to live all together, including with strangers, in a different house within the Ghetto. Midwife, Ana Kaminski, Ester’s good friend, was Polish, against Ester and her family’s Jewish ancestry, so Ana and her family were outside the Ghetto in their own home. But when Ana and her sons decided to help the Jews as much as they could, they brought danger to their door.

When the Germans caught the Poles helping the Jews, the repercussions were immediate. As Ester and Ana were pushed onto the train, they had no idea the heartache and horrors that would follow. Arriving at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ana and Ester were sent to the maternity section, and during the time she and Ester were in the camp – until liberation – Ana birthed over three thousand babies, never losing one. But most babies didn’t live long, for one reason or another. They’d been at the camp for three months, losing weight from lack of food, when Ana suspected Ester was pregnant. Keeping it from the Kapo – cruel and sadistic – in charge of their barracks, would become a major challenge…

With the hundreds of thousands of women, men and children sent to the chimneys, staying alive was the most important thing there was, and Ana and Ester – and the friends they’d made – fought the whole way. Days of depression would hit, but they’d try to boost each other’s spirits – they sometimes wondered if it was worth the tremendous effort…

The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart is based on a true story, and it’s hard to believe the incredible courage that some people kept within themselves. The little newborns, some of whom were taken by the Nazis and delivered to German families, were exterminated because they were Jewish. Others who survived were hidden, and some were tattooed with their mother’s identification number under their arm, so they’d be found after the war. The horrors of war, of the Holocaust, and of the Nazi’s brutality, will never leave us - and neither should it. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for sending an early copy of the book to me. I really tried to get into the book but I was unable to finish it. The writing style did not work for me, I felt very distant from the characters and with the tragic events they were going through-that didn't work for me.

I won't be posting on my socials about this one as I did not finish reading it but I do appreciate the early copy. I was very excited to read it as I love historical fiction.

Ana is a midwife living in Poland in 1943 when the Nazi invasion happened and she finds herself delivering babies while a prisoner in an Auschwitz concentration camp. Together with her closest friend, Ester, they face the barbaric cruelty that the Jews had inflict on them by the nazis. In the midst of all the trauma, they deliver over 3000 babies before they were finally freed and headed back home. This story being based on what really took place is astounding to me and so very heartbreaking. The idea of the Nazis killing all the Jewish babies just for the fun of it was soul crushing. But seeing the strength of these nurses and the women they tend to is so extraordinary that it gives you hope in humanity.
This story made me sad, angry and happy at various points and I am thankful for the opportunity to learn about a part of history that I had no knowledge about whatsoever. It gripped me and didn’t let go. Anna Stuart knows how to write historical fiction.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.