The sisters of Auschwitz The true story of two Jewish sisters' resistance in the heart of Nazi territory

Dutch lawyer and novelist van Iperen weaves a spellbinding story of resistance and survival during WWII. Lien Brilleslijper, a dancer, and her younger sister Janny, who was newly married and pregnant when war broke out in 1939, became active members of the Dutch resistance, printing an underground newspaper, hiding political refugees, and making fake identity cards for Dutch Jews trying to avoid deportation. In the summer of 1941, with both sisters' families facing arrest, they fled their respective homes for a house in the forest near the village of Naarden that became a resistance center and refuge for Jews fleeing the Nazis. Betrayed by an informer in 1944, they were arrested and transported to Auschwitz and then Bergen-Belsen with Anne Frank and her family. Tens of thousands of prisoners, including Anne and her sister Margot, died before British troops liberated Bergen-Belsen in April 1945, but Janny and Lien survived. Van Iperen's prose is poetic without lapsing into sentimentality, and she maintains suspense from the first page to the last. Offering fascinating insights into Amsterdam's Jewish Quarter, the fate of the Frank family, and the bonds of sisterly devotion, this standout history isn't to be missed. Agent: Tracy Fisher, WME. (Aug.)

Moving true story of two sisters who survived--and resisted--the Holocaust. Van Iperen's narrative revolves around the house that she and her family restored, the High Nest, a remarkable Dutch country home that served as a nerve center of anti-Nazi resistance and housed several Jews during the frightening years of German occupation. At the center of the story of their home is the tale of Jewish sisters Janny and Lien Brilleslijper, whose courage, resilience, and strong sense of hope touched many lives during a time of atrocity. The author captures this important piece of Holocaust history with exceptional skill and nuance, allowing readers to feel a personal kinship with the individuals that populate the narrative. The author takes readers on a journey from one moving chapter to another as the Nazi grip on Holland's Jews grew tighter and tighter. While Jewish rights were stripped away and increasing numbers of families were shipped to ghettos or deported to camps, the Brilleslijper sisters provided significant aid to the Dutch resistance, overseeing an underground press, organizing a black market of necessary goods and lifesaving documentation, and hiding those on the run. Eventually, the residents of the High Nest were discovered and shipped to the Westerbork Transit Camp, followed by Auschwitz, where "almost all" of them were "killed upon arrival." As the Soviet army approached, the sisters were moved to Bergen-Belsen, where they came extraordinarily close to meeting the same fate as another pair of sisters they befriended, Margot and Anne Frank. The author's attention to detail makes the horrors of the Holocaust come to life--not only the physical horrors of the camps, but also the emotional and mental torment of life spent in fear and hiding. The ending, though happy, proves bittersweet in contrast to the incomprehensible scale of torment and death of the era. A truly worthwhile addition to the body of Holocaust studies. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.