This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It is a story of human spirit and triumph of good over evil. Very inspirational! Wonderful read.

This was one of the best books I ever read. The book was written so well. I wish more books were written about the Holocaust that were this good. 5 Stars!!!

Instead of buying Harry Potter we need more books like this. This was such a beautiful story of hope and courage, strength and determination. It tells history the way it was and I cannot tell you enough how this book touched my heart and my daughters heart. My daughter picked up the book and never put it down, she read the whole thing in 3 days. I could hear her giggle and laugh at some of the funny parts and I could see her tears in some of the sensitive heart moving parts. This book will capture you. Just beautiful
I wish they could make Sareen's story into a movie

God Bless

I read many books on the Holocaust and have always found inspiration and admiration for those people who have experienced such an appalling event and have managed to survive. But this book left me totally disturbed with the graphics given by this amazing woman, Sara Tuvel Bernstein, and I highly commend her for sharing her horrific ordeal.
I recommend everyone should read this book and maybe,just maybe, we will learn something from it... that war is futile, and all people are equal.

True life events .. so well told .. The story is riveting from beginning to end .. I wish I could feel that this will never happen again but I worry that it can and that it will.

Seren Tuval is my new heroine. Born ahead of her time, she was an independent force to be reckoned with. Having the sense of not wanting to be married too young and finding a career to support herself (which she did, hence the title) this brave woman not only fought her way through the Holocaust and survived, her intelligence, quick wit and sense of humor saved the lives of her sister and and close friend as well. She never lost hope that she would be reunited with other family members and her sheer will to survive is a true inspiration. I was always proud of my Eastern European descent, but now Seren Tuval makes me even prouder.

This Holocaust survival memoir is both unique and remarkable and ensures we will never forget the tragedies suffered at the hands of the Nazis. This story in particular evinces the notion that no two Holocaust stories are the same- so many people suffered in so many different places and in so many different ways.

Seren's story teaches us that survival for so many depended upon connections with others- friends/ relatives, etc. Seeimingly so many Holocaust survival stories depict this idea of surviving for others or because of others. Hence, her story teaches us not only of love and relationships but of what it takes not to give up or give in.

I have read a few times that reviewers found the tone of this novel "detached," and/or "irreverant," and I wholeheartedly disagree. I was extremely connected with the characters and felt Seren's emotions throughout the various stages of her life. Indeed, in contrast to so many survivors who can not speak of the atrocities they witnessed and suffered, the very fact that Seren was able to tell her story shows a great deal of strength and her ability to connect with her past on an emotional level.

I HIGHLY recommend this book, and believe it should be required reading in all schools. It would make an excellent book club selection, and would greatly enhance any courses on the Holocaust, WWII, women's studies, history, etc.

Although I have an interest in Holocaust memoirs and have read dozens to date, I found Bernstein's story both unique and compelling.

Bernstein begins by providing a full picture of her life, starting from childhood. Then known as Seren, the young Bernstein was happy, growing up as one of the youngest children in a large blended family in Hungary. Her father, a mill supervisor, never failed to provide well for his plethora of children, in-laws and grandchildren.

However, even he couldn't stop the forces that wanted to annihilate the Jews. In the early 1930s -- well before many people even had an inkling of the depth of trouble brewing -- Bernstein, her family and friends were forbidden from working or socializing normally. Before long, the huge extended family was unable to keep in contact, though geographically close by; and Bernstein and her father were imprisoned.

Bernstein's troubles, though, were only just beginning. Over the next few years, as she and her sisters struggled to maintain some semblance of normal lives -- young Seren working as a seamstress -- the Iron Guard began to close in upon them.

Bernstein details the long months when she, her youngest sister Esther, and their friends Lily and Ellen struggled to survive at a little-known all-women's work camp. Although Jews were only a small number of the prisoners, they were treated the worst.

Bernstein, who had a friend amputate her big toe after gangrene set in from the cold, and literally became a walking skeleton, was considered one of the luckiest ones -- she survived.

Told in a manner that is simultaneously human yet matter-of-fact, Bernstein's story of survival against all odds is magnificent. It's impossible to read it and not feel incredulous, let alone to ever forget how one woman could possibly survive so much.

Although I have an interest in Holocaust memoirs and have read dozens to date, I found Bernstein's story both unique and compelling.

Bernstein begins by providing a full picture of her life, starting from childhood. Then known as Seren, the young Bernstein was happy, growing up as one of the youngest children in a large blended family in Hungary. Her father, a mill supervisor, never failed to provide well for his plethora of children, in-laws and grandchildren.

However, even he couldn't stop the forces that wanted to annihilate the Jews. In the early 1930s -- well before many people even had an inkling of the depth of trouble brewing -- Bernstein, her family and friends were forbidden from working or socializing normally. Before long, the huge extended family was unable to keep in contact, though geographically close by; and Bernstein and her father were imprisoned.

Bernstein's troubles, though, were only just beginning. Over the next few years, as she and her sisters struggled to maintain some semblance of normal lives -- young Seren working as a seamstress -- the Iron Guard began to close in upon them.

Bernstein details the long months when she, her youngest sister Esther, and their friends Lily and Ellen struggled to survive at a little-known all-women's work camp. Although Jews were only a small number of the prisoners, they were treated the worst.

Bernstein, who had a friend amputate her big toe after gangrene set in from the cold, and literally became a walking skeleton, was considered one of the luckiest ones -- she survived.

Told in a manner that is simultaneously human yet matter-of-fact, Bernstein's story of survival against all odds is magnificent. It's impossible to read it and not feel incredulous, let alone to ever forget how one woman could possibly survive so much.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. I was unable to put it down and finished it in two sittings. It was simultaneously fascinating and appalling if that is comprehendable.
The horrific and degrading treatment of Seren and her fellow prisoners is beyond anything any of us can imagine and their ability to survive against all odds is truly heroic. Man's inhumanity to man is portrayed in all it's shocking detail. I found myself moved to tears several times, but could not stop myself from finishing the book as quickly as I could. It is definitely worth reading. You will never forget it.

Sara Tuvel's story was unusal for a holocaust story because she was able to manipulate the system and remain free for the majority of the time. She was her own counsel from childhood through adulthood, with the ability to think for herself and the fortitude and discipline to prosper in any type of undertaking. Her story is both heart wrenching and uplifting at the same time. From a woman's point of view, this is a good example of a strong woman, who uses her intelligence, intuition, and fortitude to survive a terrible ordeal.

This is a fantastic book about a fantastic person during one of the worse times in human history. A must read.....

This is a fantastic book about a fantastic person during one of the worse times in human history. A must read.....

This is the most moving book I have read in my life, hands-down. Seren Tuvel's story is heart-breaking, yet courageous. This book is an absolute must-read for everyone.

This is the most moving book I have read in my life, hands-down. Seren Tuvel's story is heart-breaking, yet courageous. This book is an absolute must-read for everyone.

This book was well written in that it is a first hand account of what happened to real people in the Holocaust. It held my attention from beginning to end, and that is saying a lot for a book for me, so I do recommend it as a good read on this subject.

This is the first book about the Shoah I've read that takes place in Romania (apart from the excerpt from Miriam Korber's diary in the anthology 'Salvaged Pages'). All of the other books and memoirs are from places like Poland, Hungary, Germany, France, Holland, anywhere but Romania, which also suffered mighty losses during the Shoah, though not always in the same way as in those other conquered nations. Seren was the third-last child of a huge family, composed of both full siblings and half-siblings, and despite having a strict father and living in a nation with rampant anti-Semitism, even among small children who were taught to hate, a land where Jews were not granted civil rights and civil liberties until 1923, and then only very reluctantly, she always stood apart from others. She was willing to fight back and to be her own person, to leave home at 13 to attend the gymnasium in Bucharest, to strike out on her own after throwing a bottle of ink at an anti-Semitic priest teacher and never going back to the gymnasium. Seren loved being a dressmaker, even designing gowns for members of Romania's Royal Family, though she didn't tell her family for some time what she was really doing and that she'd left gymnasium.

Unlike many other Shoah memoirs, this begins when Seren is quite young and continues through her childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. (She is also a bit older than the typical writers of such memoirs; she was 26 years old when she was forced into the labor brigade and the camps, not a teenager or even in her early twenties.) There were increasing incidents of anti-Semitism both at home and in surrounding nations, but things are still relatively "normal" a lot longer than in many other memoirs of this nature. Many start out normally but quickly move to the camps and ghettos; this book doesn't move to that territory for some time. Even after Seren sneaks her way over the new border through the mountain at the foot of her family's house shortly after Romania is carved up by Hungary and the Soviet Union, and she and her father are arrested and treated quite terribly, she still eventually manages to finally be released and go back to her family, whom she is ordered to move to another town. Her father is suffering in prison, but the family is largely still intact. It is while Seren is working in Budapest with her youngest sister Esther and two new friends of theirs that the town they left most of their remaining family in gets invaded by the Nazis along with the rest of Hungary, and but for the ones who have already escaped to the relative "safety" of Budapest or who are somewhere else, most of them are murdered. It is only in the Summer of 1944 that Seren, Esther, and their friends Lily and Ellen (the Helinka later referred to in the Epilogue?) are taken to a labor brigade; after several months of that they are transferred to the first of eventually three camps they would be in. They weren't taken to one of the death camps in Poland, but conditions were just as bad where they were; it's a marvel they managed to survive until the liberation in the Spring of 1945. I also liked how much time was spent to writing about what happened after the liberation; too many memoirs of this nature either have no sequels or only spend a few pages on relating what happened immediately after the liberation, wrapping things up without any real sense of resolution. A lot of people make the claim that many books about the Shoah start to seem all the same after awhile, only with different names, places, and specific incidents, but because of all of the rich detail, many different characters, timeframe, locations, the fact that the author was together with a sister and two friends instead of (as one tends to see more often) mainly surviving for another sibling and not friends, how much time goes by before things really start getting horrible, and the age of the author, this book truly provides a unique and gripping perspective.

This is one of the most powerful Holocaust memoirs I have ever read. Seren Tuvel lived with her large family in Romania and as a young girl was such an exceptionally bright student that she was chosen to attend a gymnasium of higher education in Bucharest. However, this was a time when prejudice and harrassment of Jewish people was gathering momentum thoughout Europe. One of Seren's teachers at her new school frequently also made disparaging remarks about Jews and Seren decided to leave the school. She did not return to her family in their small village but stayed in Bucharest and became an apprentice seamstress, learning a trade that would come to be an invaluable tool for her survival as World War II broke out and the Germans began their persecution of the Jewish people.

This memoir starts out in a very mild manner, but as Seren and her family are forced by degrees to give up the life they knew it becomes one of increasing horror. Her father is imprisoned and is later shot, her brothers are forced into labor camps as are she and her sisters. Her youngest sister is shot to death in one such camp by a sadistic guard when he finds out that she is pregnant and unwed. But the real horrors begin when Seren is transferred along with another sister, Esther, to a women's concentration camp known as Ravensbruck.

Seren's story is chilling yet truly inspirational. A Holocaust memoir that should take its place beside The Diary of Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel's Night as one of the definitive works of Holocaust literature.