The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Heather Morris
One of the most life-affirming, courageous stories of the Holocaust.
As the first transport from Slovakia makes its way to Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942, Lale Sokolov immediately stands out to the other prisoners for his composed appearance and outwardly assured manner. In the camp, he is looked up to, looked out for and put to work in the privileged position of Tätowierer – tattooist – marking his fellow inmates with their identification numbers, forever. One of them is a young woman, Gita, who steals his heart at first glance.
His life given new purpose, Lale does his best through the struggle and suffering to use his position for good.
This story, full of beauty and hope, is based on years of interviews that author Heather Morris conducted with real-life Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov. It is heart-wrenching, illuminating and unforgettable.
‘Extraordinary – moving, confronting and uplifting... a story about the extremes of human behaviour: calculated brutality alongside impulsive and selfless acts of love. I recommend it unreservedly’—GRAEME SIMSION
‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz has the quality of a dark fairytale. It is both simple and epic, shot through with compassion and love… Everyone should read it’—HUGH RIMINTON
‘An extraordinary story of a single and singular life and its great love’—ASHLEY HAY
Pub Date: 1st February 2018
ISBN: 9781760403171
AU RRP: $32.99
Format: Tarde Paperback
Extent: 288 pages
About the Author
Born in New Zealand, Heather Morris is passionate about stories of survival, resilience and hope. In 2003, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who ‘might just have a story worth telling’. The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Lale’s story formed the basis for The Tattooist of Auschwitz and the follow-up novel, Cilka’s Journey. In 2021 she published the phenomenal conclusion to the Tattooist trilogy, Three Sisters, after being asked to tell the story of three Holocaust survivors who knew Lale from their time in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Together, the three novels have sold more than 17 million copies worldwide. Her exceptional new novel, Sisters under the Rising Sun, was published in 2023 bringing another heart-wrenching true story to life with experiences of women in Japanese POW camps, and how they found bravery in sisterhood and hope to survive in music.
Also by Heather Morris
