I thoroughly enjoyed this WWII novel featuring a Polish Botanist, Felicia and her story of imprisonment in Birkenau--later moved to a less secure prison camp, Rajsko. In Rajsko we find imprisoned scientists running botanical experiments and maintaining greenhouses for the Germans. All this in effort to grow their own rubber as a raw material for supplies. While the story had the horror of the death camps expected in this genre, there was also human resilience and a sense of pride in work despite the conditions. Love, friendship, family and endurance all come together in a book you won't want to put down.

Against the backdrop of Auschwitz-Birkenau's ever-present brutality, Felcia tends to the plants needed for one of the Reich's most ambitious experiments—one that could tip the war in favor of the Nazis. When Sabina Kupka discovers the horrifying nature of her father's job at a coal mine run by Nazis, she agrees to work with an increasingly defiant resistance. Soon, both women are engaged in a daring plan to arm the prisoners of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The Botanist's Tracks is the third installment in the Beyond the Tracks series and takes readers to the Nazi agricultural camp of Rajsko, a ten-minute ride from Auschwitz-Birkenau. When I discovered I was reading book 3 first, I was not sure if I should read books one and two first, but I decided to give it a try, and it was a wonderful, well-written story with great characters. Auschwitz-Birkenau is always in the background, but not as prominent as in other stories that I have read. This story is based on actual events and is the first-ever book set primarily in Rajsko and shows the incredible ingenuity of prisoners in finding ways to rise against impossible odds.

Though I have always been interested in WWII history, I often find myself doubting before picking a book about that awful period of time, especially if it has to do with the extermination camps. So I was quite careful when starting this book.

Spending a day at Auschwitz a few years ago gave some special insights on what I was reading, helping me picture where things were happening, though it was by no mean necessary. The book is well-written, clearly described and gripping. There are scenes with terrible descriptions that made me feel pretty sick but it remains done with taste, not bathing into horror without purpose.

Felcia is a scientist, arrested because she was giving underground classes (I never knew that secondary education got forbidden in Poland!) and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau as a political prisoner. Sabina is not even yet an adult, forced to grow rapidly due to the circumstances and living close by Auschwitz. Both these women are facing choices regarding their own survival and interests and the greater good.

Michael Reit did a great job in picturing his characters (real and fictional), to depict all kind of people involved. Out of the prisoners, you have the brave ones, the defeated, the collaborating ones. But almost none is black or white and the internal dispute on what to do and why were much appreciated. It all comes down to two things though, courage and hope.

I really liked the ending. It tied all the characters stories neatly. I would have enjoyed an afterword about the reality of the greenhouses and that secondary camp, but I will do my own research!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book that I genuinely enjoyed.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked the descriptions of the relationships, the Rajsko concentration camp and the agricultural aspects. I was unaware of most of this. Even though this story stands alone, I will be purchasing the authors first two books. Very well done!
I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Botanist's Tracks is #3 the Beyond the Tracks series by Michael Reit. This was my first book by Michael Reit; I didn't not feel lost by "jumping" into the series with book #3.

Felicia is a botanist/researcher/teacher and tasked with helping the Reich with potentially finding another source for a material they need. Sabina is messenger who delivers papers between the government offices and the Nazis.

I enjoyed The Botanist's Tracks, but with prior reading about WWII, I'm on the fence in regards to how to rate and review. I'm going to give this book 4 stars. I selected this book because I enjoy gardening; I did think that the botanist tie to the Reich was interesting.

Many thanks to NetGalley for (yet once again) introducing me to a new to me author. Thank you to NetGalley and publisher Book Whisperer for approving my request to read The Botanist's Tracks in exchange for an honest review. publication date is Mar 14 2024. Approx 362 pages.

The Nazi Secret

Two young women, a secret Nazi project and a link to the resistance.

Sabina's father works in the coal mines as a supervisor. He works the Jewish prisoners from Auschwitz in the mines. Sabina is appalled at the conditions he describes and his job. She gets a job as a courier for the government.

While delivering a message to the Nazi Commander from her boss she meets and befriends a young Jewish girl named Felicia at the hidden Nazi camp. Felicia is working on a secret project with plants for the Nazi's to stay out of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

Through Felicia, Sabina and the worker's from Auschwitz-Birkenau in the field working with the plants the resistance forms a plan. Sabina and Felicia are in great danger but they volunteer to help knowing that if they are caught the penalty is death.

A sad but interesting story of WWII resistance.

Thanks to MIchael Reit for writing a good story, to The Book Whisperer for publishing it and to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review a complimentary copy.

When the Nazis conquered a country, they closed the schools. Devoted educators knew that they couldn't allow learning to stagnate. Some brave educators and students continued learning. These underground schools were targets of the Nazis. When located, all involved were punished by being sent to a work camp. Felcia Hodak was an instructor at one such school. She was discovered, arrested, and sent to Birkenau. She was a political prisoner. Sabina Krupka lived with her parents. They had been relocated to an apartment in the town of Auschwitz from Rajsko, Poland. Sabina's father was a supervisor in the mines, directing both civilian and prisoner workers. Sabina attended an underground school and worked in the archives as a clerk. She is tasked with taking messages back and forth from the archives to the Nazi commander at the Rajsko science work camp. Her keen awareness of the happenings at Birkenau prompt her to work with the resistance. A chance encounter between Felcia and Sabina begins a friendship with important outcomes.

Michael Reit's latest book about Birkenau and the Polish Resistance illustrates the determination of the Polish people, with a special focus on Polish women. Even though cruelty was commonplace with Nazi rules, the two protagonists brave the ever-present threats. During Nazi occupation, it didn't matter which side of the fence you were on, death was always a possibility. Women were threatened, tortured, and abused by the brutal Nazi female guards. Reit's characters Felcia and Sabina are not superheroes, they are two women striving to better the awful circumstances of their lives. It is inspiring to see these women face such cruelty and find the inner strength to help in any way possible. Their acts of rebellion along with those of many others, helped Poland oppose their captors.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I still have 30 pages left, but I wanted to make sure I left my review on the 14th.

Michaels Reit wrote a novel about a camp I have never read about before and I love it. It gave my inner researcher something new to learn and educate others about. I have already recommended the novel to a couple of friends and they seemed intrigued as I was upon starting.

This book is an intense read, a page turner for sure, that gives a unique look into a concentration camp not often written about. There were definitely times I had to set the story down because the atrocities were brought to life in such a way I had to really process them. I read this without reading the first two books and it worked well as a stand alone book. Overall I really enjoyed this read...but there were questions left unanswered that I really wish had been addressed like who was the insider. Maybe there will be another book?

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book.

This was a really interesting book about a slightly different sort of concentration camp during WWII, which used prisoners with a scientific background to try to produce war materials for Germany, and the interactions between town folk and people both working in the camps and imprisoned there. It showed that not all Germans were horrible people, but that some enjoyed being cruel to those who were in the camps. People could be killed basically on a whim of a guard, and often were and those who tried to help prisoners often became prisoners themselves. I read a lot of WWII literature, both factual history and fiction, and this book was well written and captured my interest immediately.

For a time there was a preponderance of new WW2 fiction coming available. That was a good thing, but at times just a bit too close to current events. This one is from a slightly different perspective as the main character is not from a Jewish home, but more in the character of the family of Anne Frank, who was both terrified and horrified by what was happening to her world. The writing is strong and well put together while emphasizing the basic humanity of the important characters. I have not read the first two books of the trilogy but did not feel the loss.
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Book Whisperer via NetGalley. Thank you!
Available 14 Mar 2024 #BeyondTheTracksBk3

The Botanist's Tracks is the third in the breathtaking Beyond the Tracks series by one of my auto-read authors, Michael Reit. Based on real events, places and people in Poland during World War II, it details the bone-chilling horrors Jews and others such as political prisoners faced in killing camps. Emotions they felt every single moment of every day are vivid, raw and heartbreaking. Thankfully, people worked tirelessly and courageously behind the scenes to do what they could in the Resistance to ease suffering for some. Not all Nazi soldiers were killers and some felt compassion.

Felcia was taken to Aushwitz-Birkenau, where daily life was actually death. Her torturers included the most feared and powerful of all female SS-Helferin, Maria Mandl. She sought petty reasons to lash out in hatred and took great pleasure in killing her prey. Felcia barely survived both camps. But most didn't.

One camp which generally afforded better conditions was Rajsko. Sabina's job as a botanist in an important lab meant more food and comparative comfort. But her life was filled with anguish of a different kind.

Sabina and Felcia eventually met and along with others began smuggling goods within camps. Though very different people, they both relied on others and selflessly risked everything.

Words cannot convey my gratitude and regard for this poignant series, especially Book 3. As always, Reit's emotive and engrossing writing whisked me away to another world, a dark and disturbing place where human beings found repulsive joy in incomprehensible barbaric treatment of fellow human beings through humiliation, starvation, torture, taunting and planned and unplanned executions without one iota of remorse. Details are nauseating and tough to process but critical for us to know about. My heart ached and broke for the innocents whose only crime was their Jewishness and trying to help others survive. Powerful SS killers such as Maria Mandl always render me speechless. No wonder she was known as The Beast. Reit captured her evil as well as the good in others whose kindnesses shone.

My sincere thank you to Book Whisperer and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this outstanding novel.

This book had me in tears. The detailed descriptions brought the story to life. Books like this one give us a better understanding of the horrors of World War Two. We should all be reading these types of books so we don't forget, and more importantly, do not repeat.

The story centers on Rajsko, an Auschwitz sub camp. The Nazis took over the village, flattening building and creating a small camp. They used to school for administration and labs. They constructed numerous greenhouses. The purpose of the camp was to create and grow plants that they could harvest for rubber. Who knew that was a thing? Those prisoners involved in the research may have better conditions, but the fear of abuse and death was always there. You did not want to cross the guards.

The story really got me thinking. The story takes the reader into the homes of those displaced. I experienced the dangers that they were in on a daily basis. I had never thought about something as simple as not being able to fixing a leaky faucet. There was nothing to fix it with. The continuing struggles to put food on the table was hard to comprehend when my panty is full.

The members of the resistance were doing what they could, but the dangers were extreme. When I was younger, I thought they just blew up things and fought along side the allies. The Botanist Tracks shows that the importance was so much more. With every action taken, they put their family at risk. How could they choose? I suffered along side the people whose loved ones were taken away. I cringed over their treatment.

Most of the characters were really likable. I became invested in their stories. Total respect to the prisoners for their strength against all odds. People like Sabina and Flecia are an inspiration. This story shows that people can unite in a common cause, in this case survival. The ending was a total surprise. I was left speechless, yet with a smile on my face.

The Botanist's Tracks
By Michael Reit

This is a story about Poland under the Nazi occupation and the horrors of the concentration camps – as well as the Polish resistance. It is well written and makes the atrocities real for the reader.

For me, the abundance of books and movies about the Holocaust has unfortunately had the effect of blunting my feelings of sorrow and shock at how inhuman we humans are capable of being. But if you as a reader are still looking for more on this subject, you might find this book eye-opening.

I've read all of Michael Reit's novels and probably liked this one the best. I found the main characters extremely likeable and believable. The brutality was difficult to read and process, although I know it was honestly portrayed through the writing. I also liked the premise of the novel. It was interesting using botany as the subject and women as the main focus.
It was interesting that the novel was set in Poland since many WWII novels are set in Western Europe.

This has been a most satisfactory, page-turning read! But what else could one expect from author Michael Reit!

This is a third book in the Beyond the Tracks series. However, it is easily a stand alone read. The setting is set in a most interesting experimental horticultural camp in Rajsko, Poland. This camp involved prisoner botanists such as the character Felcia and other fellow scientific prisoners, with a true-to-life Dr. Caesar overseeing the work for developing a particular species of danelions for a most unusual use that was a surprizing reveal to me. Other themes involved in this saga were the treatment of inmates in concentration camps and of the resistance efforts and connections in and outside the camps.

Even though this is a work of historical fiction, it is based on reality and therefore I have come to highly respect those most amazing and courageous participants in such efforts to potentially alleviate prisoners' plights and foil the Nazi's foul plans. In my opinion, many readers will find this a riveting read.

A 5-Star rating from me.

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

March 2024

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the complimentary review copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

In this third installment of the Beyond the Tracks series by Michael Reit, we follow two women, Felicia and Sabina, as they face the brutal realities of life in Rajsko, the Nazi agricultural camp outside of Auschwitz. This was a fascinating and quick read, and I was really compelled by both women’s struggles. The fact that this was based on true events makes it all the more riveting. While ultimately a fictional take on real events, it’s important that stories like these don’t get lost in our collective history.

The Botanist’s Tracks by Michael Reit tells of the horrors experienced in Auschwitz-Birkeau during WWII. Felicia is a botanist assigned to take care of the plants being cultivated by the Reigh in Rajsko. They are hoping to grow all the rubber they need. She has been imprisoned for teaching in the underground education system. Sabina use to live in Rajsko before her family was relocated to town so Rajsko could be used by the Nazi’s for this purpose. Sabina’s father works with the prisoners in the mines. She discovers her father has been aiding the prisoners through an underground network. Sabina wishes to help as well.

Sabina works in the military filing office in town. Her boss has her delivering paperwork that needs signing to the commander at Rajsko. There she meets Felicia and secretly they begin working with the resistance to deliver much needed supplies to the prisoners. It is extremely dangerous. If they are caught it would mean certain death. Because the commander has taken a liking to Felicia, she is hated by one of the guards who has it out to get her. She endures much as a result.

The story is fast paced but at times has you on edge and in parts, definitely hard to read. The brutality described is awful. It is hard to believe anyone could survive what they went threw. There are several parts of the story however that seem unrealistic, particularly the ending. but it is fiction and I was happy with the ending.

Thank you Net Galley for giving me to opportunity to read this advanced copy.

Botanist's Tracks is another of Michael Reit's superb books about the death camps. Based on true stories, he takes an unflinching look at the horrors of the concentration camps. You feel every one of his character's fear, horror, determination and grief at the loss of friends and family. One way to survive is to make yourself useful. Felcia is assigned to work in the laboratories where they are researching plants that will produce rubber for the Nazi war effort. Sabina is not a prisoner but joins the resistance. Their narratives are told in alternating chapters.. Highly recommended, this book will make you feel and remember their stories long after finishing the book.

Beyond the Tracks Book #3

In this installment we are taken to the Nazi agricultural camp of Rajsko, a sort ride from Auschwitz- Birkenau. You needed to be a valuable asset to survive the horrors that lies ahead. Felicia Hodak, a botanist with vital skills is assigned to tend to the plants needed for the Reich most ambitious experiment. While Sabina Kupka agreed to work for the resistance, what starts with significant roles soon propels her into a frontline one. By chance the women met and soon were engaged in a daring plan to arm the prisoners of Auschwitz.

Although part of a series this novel can be read as a stand-alone

Mr. Reit historical fictions mainly focus on lesser-known events and people in WW11. His books have usually provided us with information between facts and fiction, but this time not much is mentioned, so I presume at first the events and people were the fruits of his imagination till Mr. Google came into play. Yes the camp existed; Dr. Joachim Caesar was the head of scientists working in green houses although in the story the goal was to raise a substitute rubber plant.

In this story everything goes too neatly to sound real, the events are farfetched and I hardly believe clandestine meetings can always go so smoothly. With the help of an active narration, the plot has enough tension and drama to move along at a steady pace to keep us captivated and turning the pages. Unfortunately, the story leaves us questioning the whereabouts of the traitor, who was he (she) what a hole in the story to ponder on. I love the characters, Felicia and Sabina where innocent although smart. They played the male guards well to get to what they wanted....although the female guards were ruthless....the story tells us how much....

This latest may not be my favourite in the series but it was nevertheless a captivating read I enjoy passing time with.