The Ballerina of Auschwitz

Young Adult Edition of The Choice

By: Edith Eva Eger

Narrated by: Gilli Messer, Tovah Feldshuh

A Sydney Taylor Award Notable Young Adult Book

In this “luminous” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) young adult edition of the bestselling, award-winning memoir The Choice, Holocaust survivor and renowned psychologist Dr. Edith Eva Eger shares her harrowing experiences and gives readers the gift of hope and strength.

Edie is a talented dancer and a skilled gymnast with hopes of making the Olympic team. Between her rigorous training and her struggle to find her place in a family where she’s the daughter “with brains but no looks,” Edie’s too busy to dwell on the state of the world. But life in Hungary in 1943 is dangerous for a Jewish girl.

Just as Edie falls in love for the first time, Europe collapses into war, and Edie’s family is forced onto a train bound for the Auschwitz concentration camp. Even in those darkest of moments, Edie’s beloved, Eric, kindles hope. “I’ll never forget your eyes,” he tells her through the slats of the cattle car. Auschwitz is horrifying beyond belief, yet through starvation, unthinkable terrors, and daily humiliations like being forced to dance for a Nazi leader, dreams of Eric sustain Edie. Against all odds, Edie and her sister Magda survive, thanks to their sisterhood and sheer grit.

Edie returns home filled with grief and guilt. Survival feels more like a burden than a gift—until Edie recognizes that she has a choice. She can’t change the past, but she can choose how to live and even to love again.

This was a riveting book on the history.

The Ballerina of Auschwitz is not only a story about the horrors of Auschwitz, but also about the love, resilience, and kindness found even in the darkest circumstances. It was a powerful and moving listen.

Her bravery and her words she used to portray her story were so eloquently put.

I enjoyed this book. It was another piece of history I learned about. I find Dr. Edith to be an extraordinary woman who faced so much adversity and overcame it with her head held high and so much love in the end.

Incredible

Incredible story. I was hooked from beginning to end. Definitely want to find more books like this

Loved it

Incredible story. Its lessons were very valuable and inspiring. I enjoyed listening to it and would highly recommend it.

Love in the Face of Horror

There are many threads in this book. Amidst the horrors of Eastern Europe during the mid in 1940s— including 1.5 years in Auschwitz— a young girl becomes a woman while her world falls apart and she holds herself together with her love of life and family… Sadly God isn’t mentioned, but it’s clear love is her life force. The author offers her story as testimony to family love and loyalty, psychological grit.

It’s a powerful human story—that illuminates the fragility of life and the beauty of a soul that wills to survive the unsurvivable.