This is more of a story about Miriam and her abuse than about the rabbit girls. I was hoping for more history about the girls. I quickly realized the connection between Miriam and Frieda so the ending was expected. I liked that Eva was able to help Frieda with the letters and support her. This was just an okay story.

This book was beautiful and haunting. Definitely worth reading!
Miriam is in an abusive relationship and gets news thay her father is dying. She leaves her husband to go to him. She discovers a tatoo on his wrist marking him as a holocaust victim. She knew nothing of this and it shakes her to her core. She begins searching her childhood home for more information and discovers a camp uniform. Inside the hem are letters written to her father, but who are they from? We follow Miriam on a search of identity and truth. She must learn the history of the letters and the dress.
This was an amazing book with such detail that I cried over the stories of the women in the letters.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. There was so much to it. So many feelings. I'm torn between loving and hating Henryk and Frieda. My heart really goes out to Miriam. She suffered so much and had no one there to support her or help her, that is until she meets Eva. The book takes place during the falling of the Berlin Wall. Freedom was a main theme through out the the book. It was something Miriam desperately needed. I hated Henryk in the flashbacks. Emilie loved him and he wasn't willing to choose her. His wife had to see him risk everything for someone else. Emilie stood by him through everything and it was never her name that he called. Frieda knew that he was married. All I wanted was someone to help Miriam. Everyone just looked past her and believed every word out of Axel's mouth. Couldn't people see what a horrible man he is??!!!! The nurses's words infuriated me. When Miriam was brave enough to speak up get medical attention for an assault the nurse pretty much blamed her for not giving her husband what he needed. Eva was exactly what Miriam needed. Eva didn't hold anything back. Frieda's letters were heartbreaking and only gave a glimpse of the atrocities that occurred in the concentration camps.

Definitely recommend the book. It was very emotional read and definitely uncomfortable at times, especially Frieda's letters and Miriam's abusive husband. Frieda, Emilie, Eva and eventually Miriam were strong woman and able to endure difficult situations.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Amazon Publishing UK through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

For me, calling this historical fiction is a real stretch. Calling it ‘The Rabbit Girls’ is an even bigger stretch, as they barely feature. Really, the whole focus is on Miriam, and an incredibly repetitive storyline of her displaying sad and disturbing behaviour due to her abusive relationship with her husband.

I so so wanted to love this. I adore historical fiction, and as an ambassador for the holocaust educational trust I am always interested in novels set during that time in particular. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me. The current storyline was repetitive and somewhat overdone, and the historical storyline felt very weak to me. The ‘surprise twist’ ending was also screamingly obvious from about halfway through.

Sadly, to me it felt like a bit of a waste of potential. If you are looking to find out about the rabbit girls, definitely look elsewhere, as they barely feature and the storylines on them are skimmed at best.

A heartbreaking tale, The Rabbit Girls follows Miriam as she cares for her dying father, Henryk. When Miriam discovers an Auschwitz tattoo hidden under his watch strap and he cries out for someone named Frieda – the mystery begins to unravel. Contrary to the title, this book is less about the women experimented on in the concentration camps and more about Henryk and Miriam's strained relationships - to both each other, and their respective significant others. Ellory's writing is eloquent and quietly emotional, drawing the reader into the nuances of the effects history has on us. Overall, a great read!

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

A story of love, Life and Death

I have read many books relating back to WWII and the holocaust. Although a good story this has to be the strangest story ever. I expected the story to be about the women in the camps they called "The Rabbit Girls" because of the experiments done to them. The book only mentioned them in brief instances.

The book was more the story of Miriam, her father, and his mistress Frieda. It is in fact three stories merging into one story. It starts in the 1980's in Berlin when the wall between east and west Berlin is coming down. It then progresses between that time and two other time periods. The stories are told back and forth but are marked so you know in which time period you are reading.

The first story is of Miriam and her abusive husband Alex. The trauma she feels dealing with him. It includes her friend Eva and a nurse Hani. She is told her father is dying and runs away from him to take care of her father. He finds her and is abusive to her . She is afraid to leave the apartment because he might be on the outside waiting for her. Her fear is real and her mental state is as well. Eva gives her the strength to finally say no to him and file divorce papers which causes another episode of abuse. She is not even safe at the hospital visiting her father.

The second story is the story of her father's mistress Frieda told from letters found sewn inside a dress translated by Eva and read by Miriam . The story in the letters is about Frieda's time in a German concentration camp . This story is where the Rabbit Girls are mentioned as when she was taken to the concentration camp she was taken in by the Rabbit Girls and bunked with them. She wrote letters telling of her time in the camp which were sewn inside a dress in the seams and found in her mother's closet by Miriam who found Eva at the Library and enlisted her help in translating them from French so she could read them.

The third story is the story of Miriam's father Henryk. It is the story of his job at the University as a teacher, his affair with the student Frieda, the conflicts he felt cheating on his wife but the pull of love he had for Frieda. He was fired from his job under suspicion that he had views not the same as the Nazi's and owned books that were banned. One day the German's came when he was with Frieda, arrested both of them and sent them to concentration camps. His story is about his own time in the concentration camp, his wondering what happened to Frieda and his life afterwards with his wife and raising Miriam. It is also the story of his hospital stay and his thoughts while laying there waiting to die. He never stopped loving Frieda even at his death.

The stories are told separately but in sync with each other and come together in the end.

It was sometimes a hard book to read. I don't know which part was the most heartbreaking, the story of Frieda or that of Miriam and the terrible things here husband did to her. I am glad both her father and her found some kind of peace at the end.

The book was easy to follow, the different stories were written well. It was interesting and different. I thought the characters were perfect for the story as were the settings. I would definitely recommend the book.

Having recently read The Tatooist of Auschwitz I suppose my expectations were high but unfortunately my hopes were dashed. The subject matter fell into two really and both were told in a very long winded way with each merely delaying getting to the points of interest. There were also a few glaring unlikely moments for example I couldn’t understand how if Miriam had been nursing and tending her father she had not seen the number tattooed on his wrist sooner.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2019. I was super stoked when I got the notification that I would be reviewing this title. All I can really say is this is a magnificently heartbreaking story.

The story follows Miriam Winter who is caring for her ailing father. During this time, she learns of her father's true past during World War II. There is love and sadness, and just so many emotions through the pages of this book.

Since I was young, I have always been drawn to stories from WWII. My great grandfather fought in the war and often I would ask my family members of his time in the military as he passed away when I was six years old. With that being said, this book spoke to me on so many levels.

This isn’t what I would classify as an easy read, but it is definitely a MUST read. Anna Ellory’s writing was so eloquent, emotionally draining at times (in a good way!), and heartbreakingly intense. I found myself torn at times from needing to put the book down to reflect on the pages I had just read.

I want to graciously thank Anna Ellory for her beautiful story. I also want to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to review this title.

As Miriam Winter cares for her dying father, he calls out the name Frieda, and she discovers he has a numbered tattoo that marks him as a survivor of Auschwitz. As she looks into her father’s mysterious past she finds a prisoner’s uniform from the Ravensbruck women’s death camp filled with letters written to her father from Frieda. The letters tell the story of the “Rabbit Girls”, the women who were subjected to twisted and horrific medical experiments in the camp. Miriam uncovers a story of unbelievable cruelty, sadism and horror and the love that blossomed despite it. This story is heartbreaking, almost incomprehensible, yet beautiful in the humanity that survived in the most horrific of times

This book was a great piece of historical fiction! The premise of writing about women that were part of experiments performed by doctors at concentration camps. The main character, Miriam, finding out about her father's secret history during this time when having to care for him near the time of his death made this an emotional read. I thought it was brilliant of the writer to write this from both characters' perspectives.

I had never heard of the Rabbit Girls before. This is a heartbreaking and haunting read. This book will stay in my head for a long time. The horrific Concentration camps and the detention of prisoners is sympathetically written about. It is made more poignant by the fact that the story skips between World War 2 and the coming down of the Berlin Wall. This is a really well told strong story.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This is one of the most compelling books I've read in a long while.

Miriam is nursing her dying father - and in the process learning - via a series of hidden letters - the truth about her father's history during the second world war.

Having been estranged from her father for some years she is desperate to make up for former misunderstandings but her abusive husband stands in the way of her helping ease her father's remaining days.

Anna Ellory has woven together a rich and complex story about love, survival and what it means to be human and the capacity we have, as a species, to be inhuman too.

Ellory's prose is evocative and yet easy to read and the book is beautifully crafted.

It's not always a comfortable read but it is haunting and riveting and is one of those books that will linger in the mind long after the last page has been turned.