After being liberated from Bergen-Belsen in 1945, Gerta Rausch finds herself with no one left and nowhere to go. Taken from her home by the Nazi's in when she was just past 14 years old, Greta survives time in Theresienstadt, Auschwitz and eventually Bergen-Belsen. She survives by playing her father's viola in the camp orchestras. But after the liberation, she finds herself alone. Bergen-Belsen becomes a type of refugee camp for the survivors and it is there that they try to heal from the atrocities they withstood.
Long-listed for the National Book Award, this is a wonderful book about love, loss and the aftermath of one of the worst crimes against humanity. It is raw with emotion and the painful path survivors had to try to take to regain what was left of their lives even dealing with the continued discrimination of their people after all they had gone through.
Beautifully illustrated by the author, I thought this book was a poingnant telling a survivor's story and what it took to carry on.