This novel is inspired by the real-life story of Dita Poláchová, a 14-year-old Czech girl who is taken with her family to the concentration camps at Auschwitz. In the camp, the Nazis had created a school with the aim to cover up the horrors of Auschwitz. A prisoner, Fredy Hirsch, has managed to hide eight books from the Nazis. Dita hides, takes care and shares the frails volumes of the smallest and more clandestine public library that has never existed.
Dita survived to Holocaust and married another survivor, Otto Kraus. Antonio Iturbe interviewed Dita and wrote her story.
A tender, heartrending story about the power of reading.
A tender, heartrending story about the power of reading.
Over 700.000 copies sold worldwide!
This novel is based on the true story of a Czech girl whom the author interviewed several times in Prague. She risked her life to keep the magic of books alive.
A consummately original story: the fact that there were books in the concentration camps has not been explored by writers until now.
This novel is based on the true story of a Czech girl whom the author interviewed several times in Prague. She risked her life to keep the magic of books alive.
A consummately original story: the fact that there were books in the concentration camps has not been explored by writers until now.