Mischling

I had heard of Dr. Mengele’s experiments in genetics in WWII, but nothing specific. I didn’t know, for example, that he looked at twins and that he tortured children.

In this book, we follow twin girls, where chapters go back and forth between their points of view. The author does a stunning job of helping us see how a given situation can be interpreted differently by different characters and how the bravura of a character might be camouflage for tremendous fear.

Here, the children are resilient and extraordinarily decent in the face of hideous choices. It is far too easy… show more.

Mischling is the story of twin sisters, Stasha and Pearl, who were sent to Auschwitz during WWII. The connection between these young girls, their strength and willpower, their ability to know what the other is thinking, to protect and care for one another, is astonishing. In this camp, these girls go through puberty, fall in love, and endure more than it seems possible for any child to survive. That they do so, is impressive, and when Pearl disappears, Stasha refuses to believe her sister is dead. When the war ends, and the camp is liberated, Stasha and a young boy… show more.