"Maybe we aren't meant to leave the past behind. Maybe we're meant to bring it with us so we can join others weighed down by the same burdens, and we can carry them together. Maybe that's how we find peace." - The Last Checkmate by Gabriella Saab

This novel is intense. More than any Holocaust novel I recall, Gabriella Saab's debut The Last Checkmate immersed me in the cruelty hundreds of thousands of Jews and Resistance members endured at the hands of Nazis. It was difficult to read at times, but I continued because so many actually experienced this horror.

The story features Maria Florkowska, a young teen member of the Polish Resistance whose capture by the Gestapo leads to her and her family's imprisonment in Auschwitz. Her skill at chess catches the attention of a savage camp guard and enables her to act strategically to survive the inhumane conditions. Maria's friendship with Father Kolbe was a glimmer of hope in an otherwise cold, dark, and dirty existence.

The plot is inspired by historic events and people as explained in an extensive author's note.

At times, it felt Maria was savvy beyond her age, but prisoners likely matured rapidly in such conditions. The ending was slightly too 'happily ever after" for my taste, but after enduring so much horror and grief, these characters deserve all the happiness they can get.

Thank you to William Morrow, Book Club Girl, and NetGalley for the review copy of this outstanding novel.

The Last Checkmate by Gabriella Saab is the story of Maria and her friends, mostly prisoners at Auschwitz. Early in the war, Maria and her mother were resistance workers in Warsaw. Her mother helped get Jewish youngsters to safety. One day she was caught. They also went after her family. She successfully lied her way, she thought, even after the torture. As a closing, the questioner installed fie cigarette burns into her arm. One of each member of her family, she thought, but at least they'd be free. She was wrong. Shortly after she was returned to their cell, they were put on a truck and then a train, which would carry them to their deaths. As they left the train, Maria got separated from the rest of them. At the same time she became the toy of a sadistic guard, who discovered she like chess and kept her playing for many of the years she was in the camp. She made friends, some of whom lived, and she lived to see the camp liberated, although she was not longer there, but nearby.

This was, of course, a heartbreaking read. It was different than many of this ilk in that Maria and her friends
seemed to have more freedom within the walls of the camp many others. She worked too hard, never got enough to eat, and was tortured in front of all. She had a plan though, and that was to live. Live she did, largely through strength of character. She had no blood family but she had good friends, and she made that work. She also had the rosary that her friend, Father Kolbe had given her and touching the beads got her through many trials. It is difficult to put into words the impact of this book and books like it. May we never forget.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Last Checkmate by Harper Collins, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #harpercollins #thelastcheckmate #gabriellasaab

I’m simply stunned by this debut novel. Yes, it’s another work of historical fiction based in WWII and Auschwiz. However this book is different, and one everyone should read. We learn about the capture of some resistance members towards the beginning of WWII. Through all of the challenges that come with this story there is hope. One of the most interesting aspects of the novel are the interactions with Maximilian Kolbe - and how he becomes a Saint through his actions in the camp. It’s a story of challenge and despair, hope and failure, family and friends. So grateful that this book made it to the top of my TBR pile and grateful to NetGalley for the read. It was simply brilliant and beautiful.

The Last Checkmate is another good WWII historical fiction. Maria is a young woman who joins the Polish resistance as the war gets underway. She is captured by the Gestapo and she and her family are sent to Auschwitz, where she must do everything to survive.

The bravery and resilience of the people who survived the Holocaust never ceases to amaze me. The women, and men, in this story capture the spirit of all those who lived to tell of the horrors of the concentration camps. Some parts are hard to read but it’s a great story.

While fighting for the Polish resistance during WWI, Maria is arrested by the Gestapo. Along with her entire family, she is sent to Auschwitz. Her family is killed immediately but Maria survives and starts ‘playing’ for her life. First by winning chess games and then by outsmarting guards and remaining strong in the hells of the concentration camp.
This was a great debut novel from Gabrielle Saab. Well written and thoroughly researched with characters based on real people. Chess, friendship, prayer, sacrifice, kindness and love are all a part of this wonderful historical fiction novel. The author also includes several pages of detailed notes at the end of the book which offers the reader more insight into her writing and thought process. Releases October 19, 2021. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital arc of this book.

This was a fantastic historical fiction. Another WWII story following a young woman who is sent to Auschwitz and forced to play chess to survive. She then uses her chess knowledge to make plays in her life to survive and resist.

Maria is such a strong young woman and I really enjoyed reading her story. I loved seeing her relationships and how they helped each other survive.

Would highly recommend this for any fan of historical fiction.

Gabriella Saab, author of The Last Checkmate, does a terrific job catching the readers attention with the book starting with a chess game between a former prisoner and the commandant of a German prisoner of war camp. From there the story jumps back and forth from her capture to the time of their possible last meeting. There was good character development and one cared about the outcome.of the various prisoners and the people who cared about them.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Last Checkmate written by Gabriella Saab is an excellent debut novel about an extremely difficult time. The novel is about a young Polish girl who is a member of the Resistance. The Nazis capture her and her family early on it the war. She and her family are taken to Auschwitz. Before joining the resistance, Maria was an avid chess player. She uses stategy learned from playing chess to endure and survive the horrors that she witnesses and experiences. I am looking forward to more books written by Ms. Saab. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

A beautifully written book about a young girl's stay at Auschwitz after being caught as a member of the resistance in Warsaw. While I was frustrated many times with the rash decisions she made, I also couldn't help but be inspired by her relationship with the others she met while imprisoned. Those characters, particularly Hania and Irena, really come alive with the writing and you can't help but root for them. The book is told in three time periods with two converging near the end. Even though the title of the book specifcially mentions chess, there is a larger story told and chess becomes more of a background piece. The book was very well researched and even the liberties taken by the author do not detract from the overall story being told. Good debut novel by Gabriella Saab.

#TheLastCheckmate:

“..while a sharp pang of sorrow pierced my heart. One ideology spread like a disease and spawned such wickedness. Prior to the war, I’d witnessed various instances of hatred or oppression, but none as vile and senseless as this”.

I would have never picked this book up. Honestly. I joined the William Morrow & Custom House Fall 2021 Showcase for Influencers in June, and I fell in love. I love having these showcases because we get to hear from authors and really get to know the story. Once I got off the Crowdcast, I had to get it.

We have dual timelines 1941 & 1945, when Maria was at Auschwitz and when she returns one final time to Auschwitz. This worked so well to really understand why the hell she would even fathom coming back. Slowly and surely, the story unravels into a great dual timeline.

This narrator, Saskia Maarleveld, was so so good. She had this grit in her voice, this, hardness, this “been through hell and still going through it” tone for Maria in 1945. It was perfect. It was perfect for Maria and everything she had endured. In 1941, she’s 14; a child. You can almost hear her innocence being stripped away as the dates move forward in the story.

I loved the themes of chess throughout the book. The strategies, the patience, the two steps ahead, all of it like the game of life. It was so good and wasn’t corny or overplayed.

I felt all the emotions. I was mad, sad, hurt, pissed off, scared. But y’all, this narrator!! Saskia Maarleveld brought this story to life and made it one I won’t forget. Sometimes, audiobooks will not include author’s notes, and it makes me so sad. I was so thankful to hear the author’s note in the end. I think they’re especially perfect for historical fiction.

Thank you so much Harper Audio for the gifted copy. The Last Checkmate is out 10/12. As a non-historical fiction fan, the story was too good to not read. I hope those that do enjoy HF feel the same way!

Good lord-this book had me sobbing in Row 28 on a 7:15 am Frontier flight as we left the happiest place on earth. If you want a good cry, one that clears everything out-this would be it. A young girl is sent to Auschwitz, with her family-and so begins the next several years of her life-as she works to stay alive by playing chess against the SS officers. When she has the chance to run-does she take it? After losing so much, she’s not sure she can make that move. This story was just heartbreaking, and it will stick with me a long time. Definitely give it a chance.

A stunning literary debut from author Gabrielle Saab. Beautifully written, meticulously researched, The Last Checkmate is written from the perspective of a young teenage Polish resistance member who is caught while running an errand in her resistance work and subsequently imprisoned in Auschwitz. Grim, depressing but ultimately life affirming. Highly recommended. Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reader copy.

Although this book is fiction it is very much based on actual occurrences in the history of World War II and in some cases people who existed, although our main character is fictional. It is powerful in it’s truth and just as sad in that same truth.

We are introduced to Maria, who at only fourteen, convinces her parents to allow her to work with them in the resistance. They are a Polish family who cannot stand by and just watch their Jewish neighbors being taken away. They are a part of a group trying to save the Jewish children by hiding them.

Maria and her family are arrested and Maria’s parents and young brother and sister are executed. Maria is saved by chance and by her skill in playing chess. Sadly Maria suffers from survivors guilt and a great need for revenge on the man who she believes personally executed her family and who tortured her for the four years she was in Auschwitz concentration camp.

This book is filled with some very horrendous events which are difficult to read but they are events that no one should ever forget.

Thank you to The Book Club Girls, NetGalley, William Morrow, Harper/Collins Publishers and the author, Gabriella Saab, for an advance copy of the e-proof of this book.

WOW! I am a huge fan of WWII historical fiction. I know that there has been a lot of it in recent years and at times it can be overwhelming. This book is a unique aspect of this time in history, all because of chess. Even better is when you get to the part when you understand the meaning of the title of the book.

Maria is a chess player, a daughter, a member of the resistance, and after being captured, a prisoner of Auschwitz. She gets separated from her family and is saved from being killed by Fritzsch, who is the camp deputy. He reason for saving her is so that he will have someone to play chess with on command, and someone to torture as he sees fit.

Maria is befriended by a Catholic priest, Fr. Kolbe. Her short time with his before his own death impacts her in many ways. She is determined to survive the camp. The people that help her do so are amazing characters in their own right whose stories are just as powerful as Maria’s.

Fritzsch is eventually sent to the front as punishment for all the things he did while at Auschwitz. When Maria learns that he is still alive, she begins to plot her revenge. Whether or not she is successful is something worth reading the book to find out.

This story is one that will stay with me for a very long time. I am forever amazed at what people would do to survive the horrors of concentration camps. St. Kolbe is one of my favorite saints, his role in this book was a great addition to the story and I love how the author was true to what happened to him while allowing Maria to meet him. The author’s research shines in this novel, and her not at the end is worth reading after finishing the novel. It adds to the story and what she did with the fictionalized parts. I highly recommend this book to fans of historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Gabriella Saab for the copy of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions are entirely my own.

This book is about a young Polish resistance girl who fights for survival in a concentration camp by use of her expertise in Chess. It is a look at the terror and horror of the political prisoners suffering during WW2.
#harpercollins #netgalley #gabriellasaab

Received this book as an ARC from William Morrow and Net Galley! Maria and her family are arrested and taken to Auschwitz because she is caught as a member of the resistance. The novel chronicles her time there. I was fully wowed by this book. The author clearly did a lot of research. The characters had a lot of depth and I love the amount of connections that kept being made between them all; especially as members of the resistance. Chess played an important role all through the book as well. I think this is the best novel I’ve read in awhile. Everything was just so well done.

Books like this make real events seem even more "real". History can become more about memorizing dates and accepting the horror of what happened as just, well, things that happened. History books can desensitize us to the anguish as they tend to use dry, matter-of-fact language. Using fictional characters set in real-life historical events can give a voice to the voiceless. It can show that these horrific circumstances weren't simply dates of things that happened to faceless strangers. It shows these were real people, real tragedies, real sorrow, and real LIFE. It humanizes the suffering that should never have occurred. I don't want to give away too much about the actual story as I want to encourage others to read for themselves. Just know that you should. Especially, if you have an interest in history, not as presented by a textbook but with a heartbeat.

This was a very well written book about WWII, one that I could not put down. The story was inspiring and yet also very heartbreaking. The characters were very well developed and gave a good insight to life and the terrors in Auschwitz. The friendships made in the camp were very realistic and provided hope for life after the camps. I also enjoyed reading the author's notes at the end of the book which provided information about her research as well as what events and people were based on real events.

The Last Checkmate is a very intense telling of the survival of a young Resistance fighter from Poland in the Auschwitz concentration camp. At thirteen, Maria discovers her parents working for the Resistance in Warsaw, and asks to help, being put in the reluctant care of Irena, three years her senior. Discovered on a mission, Maria and her family are rounded up, she is interrogated, and the family is subsequently sent to Auschwitz, where Maria is the only the survivor. Left alive by Fritzsch because of her ability to play chess, Maria is one of only a few women in the early days of the concentration camp. During her time there she makes several friends, Father Kolbe, Hania - one of the few other initial women, and Witold Pilecki, who infiltrates the camp as a prisoner and leader of ZOW, an underground resistance group in the camp. Maria and her friends try to survive each day, but every one is fraught with peril - selections, illness, punishment for escape attempts, beatings and more. This is not a story about a plucky heroine in London or Paris doing her part for the Resistance and escaping the punishment of the Nazis - so may not be for readers that are not comfortable with reading about the harsh realities of Auschwitz - of which Saab does not spare details. The storytelling especially closer to the beginning can be a bit disorienting, as it alternates between Maria's life doing resistance work, being rounded up, being in the camp, and reuniting with Fritzsch in the immediate aftermath of the disbandment of Auschwitz. While the story does have and arching storyline with Maria playing chess that pops up here and there throughout the book, the reader can expect a story much more in line with Heather Morris' books rather than The Queen's Gambit. The story is well done, incorporates real people as secondary characters and chronicles real events that happened, but is also a heavy and emotional read.