Sarah is born against great odds at Auschwitz’. Most infants were killed immediately by the Nazi’s but she is spirited out and cared for by various women. The book chronicles Sarah’s journey through the years and that of her children. A different look at Holocaust survivor novels and recommended for all public libraries.

Sarah was born in Auschwitz, but never really recorded by anyone as having been there. She then managed to slip through various other cracks to wind up a peculiar sort of outlier, a survivor in many senses of the word, and a matriarch whose stubbornness and personality serve as a foundation for the lives of her whole family. This was a great novel about family and identity, and what it means to have survived something like the Holocaust, both for the survivor and for everyone else. This book also dips a toe into a near future, which was interesting and a bit different.

“Some things need remembering…but everything else is served up in dreams, events harvested from life, whether they happened or not.”

A true story: My childhood friend had a grandfather named David. David, living in Germany during his teenage years, boarded one of the last planes to England by unlocking his suitcase filled with family heirloom silver then sprinting for his life saving transport to safety. Would the armed soldiers shoot him? He spent the war in England, an unexploded incendiary device in his courtyard. An illustrious career followed in the United States, however, his entire family died in Auschwitz. His progeny…children, grandchildren, witnessed a resilient and determined patriarch with his trauma buried within.

Becoming Sarah is a composite of experiences of Holocaust survivors. Birthplace: Auschwitz, Birthdate: Winter,1942, Mother: Unknown. “When that first nurturing soul disappeared, another stepped in…a baby took up little room and gave off much heat, there was a queue of women. That the guards never learned of this baby’s existence…a miracle.” With the three year old strapped to her chest, an emaciated woman slipped through another camp’s gates…undetected.

Liberation,1947. The now incorrigible five year old was taken to a Displaced Person’s Camp in Bergen-Belsen having “no connection to the world beyond their gates.” A family in the neighboring town of Celle gave Sarah “a name, a home, a seat at the family table” and taught her to read German. She did not understand that she was “Juden”. She claimed she was “Auschwitz”. A so-called family friend promised 15 year old Sarah education and security …a fabrication. In 1961, when Germany was divided, Berlin became her destination. She hooked-up with a Soviet soldier who had a bold plan Why not “repatriate” to Israel by getting a tattoo with the numbers written on the scrap of paper she carried in her valise. With the eventual support of the Jewish Immigrant Resettlement Program, she chose the United States instead. She’d heard rumors that America was the birthplace of miracles…(She) could become something from nothing.”

Trauma ridden and at a loss, she created an identity using white lies. Who was Sarah? What was her nationality? Initially raised Christian in Celle, she did not know anything about being Jewish. Adjustments to her memorized profile were needed. After spending three comforting days in the arms of a Russian soldier, she soon discovered she was carrying his child. Before leaving for America, she gave birth to a daughter, Sasha. Sarah’s trauma permeated her relationship with each of her daughters in turn: Sasha, Malcah and Ruth. Ruthie was named for a woman in a grainy photo, the woman assumed to be Sarah’s mother.

Sarah was devoid of feeling, emotionally empty. In the name of self preservation, her protective shell helped her deal with everyday life as well as tragic events that unfolded over her lifetime. She was one tough cookie determined to navigate the world using her cobbled together past. Perhaps the upcoming plans for a gathering of the remaining Holocaust survivors would enable her to finally share her truth with her granddaughter, Moll.

Highly recommended.

Thank you Caitlin Hamilton for She Writes Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.