4.5 stars. Another beautiful WWII novel by Heather Morris. Heather really knows how to weave a story out of the facts that she has been told. This novel was about 3 sisters who made a promise to their father to always stay together and take care of each other. This was such a gut wrenching story and reading about conditions in the concentrations camps is never easy. That such cruelty exists is something I will never really be able to process. Each sister, Cibi, Magda and Livi showed such incredible strength and bravery, not only in their survival, but in the paths they were able to forge for themselves in the aftermath. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Thank you Net Galley, Heather Morris, and St. Martins Press for the ARC of Three Sisters. Heather Morris has a way of putting you right in the middle of every story. You feel every ounce of pain that her characters do. Three Sisters lived up to the standard that her readers expect. I couldn't stop reading and will forever remember this one.

💫 Three Sisters 💫
By Heather Morris
Publisher: St Martin’s Press (October 5.2021)

I cannot imagine going through the horror that was World War II. The torture. The loss. The agony of every single day. And the simmering anger which leads to acceptance that death could (and most likely) will be your fate.

Heather Morris has created a trilogy of novels that host voices from within the concentration camps. Each book shares someone else’ story which will break your heart and keep the history alive.

With her final book of the series, she has centred it around 3 sisters. Bounded together by the love of their family and promises they gave their father before he passed.

Cibi, Magda and Livia face the horror of every day life within the gates. But somehow make it through by holding each other up when they can.

From Slovakia to Israel; from not knowing how you are going to survive the day… this end of the series is a book of strength. For these sisters are people that are still living and sharing their stories, so that they are never forgotten.

Ps. Make sure you read the end author’s note and Livia’s note 💔❤️

This is a well-written, intense and troubling story about three Jewish sisters in concentration camps during WWII. Going in, knowing that, a reader needs to prepare for the brutality and the harshness of the story. Heather Morris is perhaps most famous as an author for her prior concentration camp book, "The Tattooist of Auschwitz."

The story really takes off once the sisters begin their odyssey to Israel, and forge new lives while still experiencing danger, violence and loss. The love between the sisters is strong and makes this story something special.

Three Sisters is the final book in Heather Morris’ trilogy about survivors of Auschwitz/Birkenau. It is not necessary to read the first two (The Tattooist of Auschwitz or Cilka’s Journey) since this is a stand-alone novel. As with the other books, this is a story of endurance and bravery in the midst of horrific conditions.

In 1929, Cibi, Magda, and Livi Meller were small girls when their dying father made them promise to always be there for one another and that they would not allow anything to take them away from each other. He told them that they were much stronger together and to never forget that. This promise guided them throughout their lives including their time at Auschwitz and Birkenau prison camps and when all three migrated to Israel after the war. It also helped all three of them deal with the terrible survivor’s guilt they felt.

“Vows and pacts and bonds and pledges, they all amount to the same thing, really: a declaration to fulfill a dream.”

In an Afterword, Livi’s son, Oded Ravek, sums up the novel perfectly:

“The story of my mother, Cibi, and Magda is a testament to the power of love and devotion. Against all the odds, the three sisters survived the most heinous, systematic genocide that the world has ever known. And yet they went on to live and work in a new country, learning a new language and culture. They lived lives full of laughter, fulfillment, and joy, always surrounded by love…”.

4.5-Stars rounded up to 5. Book club recommended. Thank you to Erica M. at St. Martin’s for my Advanced Reader Copy of this wonderful novel. The expected publication date is October 5, 2021.

"Three Sisters" is World War II historical fiction based on a true story. Heather Morris interview the surviving sisters to find out there story. Cibi, Magda, and Livi are three Jewish sisters living in Slovakia. Their father makes them promise before his death to always the sister should always look after each other. This becomes increasingly difficult during the war. This book also delves into what happened after the war and did life get back to normal.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Since it was based on a true story it really makes you see what went on during World War II. I would highly recommend this book. It is truly a remarkable story.

Thank you to #netgalley, @HeatherMorris and @StMartinsPress for a copy of this book.

Three young sisters, Livia, Magda, and Cibi, make a promise to their fathers that resonates for the rest of their lives, they will always be there for one another. Never realizing at the time how much that pledge would impact their lives.
The author does an amazing job of bringing this true story to life, and we are along on the journey. Not an easy road, and you might want the tissues handy, but we are aware of the horrors that happened in Europe during the reign of terror that engulfed this horrible time in history.
Travel with these sisters from Slovakia to Auschwitz, on the death march, and finally to the Promise Land of Israel, and the aftermath that affected their lives.
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher St. Martin’s Press, and was not required to give a positive review.

An extremely interesting story about keeping a promise made to a dying father no matter the circumstances. The other big theme, presented towards the end is survivor guilt. I was hoping this book would focus more on Israel and not as much on Holocaust. I understand the importance of writing/reading about Holocaust, however, there are many novels, with more interesting writing about the Holocaust. Jodi Piccoult and Alice Hoffman are my two faves. However, after the book ends, we find out the story is true which gives the whole experience a different feel. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

A true story that resonates with heartbreak and emotion. It is the journey of three sisters, removed from their home as young children and sent to Auschwitz, where they suffered torture and abuse by their Nazi captors. They observe others that are lead to the ovens for extermination, with the fear that they could be next.
But they have each other, a promise that they made to their father, to always stay together. They survive because of that bond, and the memories their mother and father provide them, that gave them the courage to survive the journey.
The third novel in the trilogy of real prisoners of Auschwitz. Heather Morris’s research is incredible in its depth and the characters are wonderful. I particularly enjoyed the Afterword, that included statements of the survivors and offspring. It really completed the reading experience of this wonderful story.
My thanks to Net Galley, Heather Morris and St Martins press for the ARC. I feel privileged to have been able to share my independent opinion of this wonderful story.

An incredible story of survival during WWII. I think this is an important book, based on actual interviews with surviving family members. May we never forget the evil that occurred, or that love does, ultimately, help heal.

A brilliantly written story of bravery and survival during an evil period of history. The story captures the horrible tragedies and helplessness the three sisters witnessed and endured. They each, at some point, saved each other lives. This is a story which the author took the memories directly from the two remaining living sisters and the sisters families.
Broken into three parts. Part one is the introduction and the promise their father had the sisters make which they held onto their entire lives.
Part two explores the absolute horror the sisters experienced in the concentration camps. A heartbreaking account as well as a testament to their love and devotion to one another.
Part three is how the sisters started a new life in a new country. They risked their lives to travel to country where they discovered a safe place to heal and create new families of their own. They each eventually find their laughter and joy again.
Written of the sisters confronting terror and death daily – it’s a tough read. It’s a sad, upsetting, yet true story. It’s important to recognize the horrors of what went on in these camps. It’s also triumphant as the sisters each went on to lead full lives in Israel, while always holding tight onto to that long ago promise to always take care of each other.
I appreciated the authors note which updates each characters life history. It really set in my mind that these were real people that experienced the horror that I just read. It’s a phenomenal read and I was engrossed from page one.

"But once we were the Meller girls."
"When they put these numbers into our skin, they sealed our promise. Somehow, they gave us the strength to fight for our lives."

This is the true story of 3 sisters. The girls Cibi, Magda and Livi made a promise to their father that they will always protect one another and stay together before he died.
Can they keep that promise during WWII as Jews are being round up and taken to camps. The sisters are taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
This was a heart breaking, tragic story that was beautifully told.
An emotional read, with events in history that need to be told many times and remembered so this will never happen again.

Thank you NetGalley and St . Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book. A story I will never forget.

I found this book as her other book gut wretching. Ms. Morris tells a story that unless you know someone that has been through what these 3 sisters were you can't even imagine how good most of out lives have been. To live through what these sisters did is beyond tragic. The holocaust should never be forgotten or downplayed.

Heartbreaking, crushing, disturbing and absorbing, Three Sisters is one of the most memorable books I've read this year...and I've read several hundreds. Heather Morris has a stunning way with words, knitting them together beautifully, full of emotion and capturing the thoughts of her characters with care and insight. The amount of research (including conversations with survivors and descendants) she did must be astounding. My investment in the story was so complete that I felt many turned upside down emotionally. But this was nothing, NOTHING in comparison to what the characters experienced. What makes it so heartbreaking is that the book is based on real people and real events. People suffered unspeakable horrors. Morris does not hold back on details, as physically and emotionally grim as they are. We read of despair, anguish, sacrifice, love, hate, guilt, inspiration and hope.

Slovakian Jewish sisters, Cibi, Magda and Livi lived with their adoring parents and grandfather. But in 1942 their lives fall apart. Jews are rounded up and shipped to killing camps including Auschwitz-Birkenau, starting with young girls. Cibi and Livi are amongst them but Magda is at home after a hiding scheme, though still persecuted and suffering in different ways. She, her surviving mother and grandfather have no idea where the two girls are and must live their days knowing they may be dead. They also live in fear and trepidation for their own lives and those they love as they navigate mistrust, where neighbour is pitted against neighbour, food is scarce and death is constant.

What this family went through is mind blowing. We are not given just glimpses of "life" in Auschwitz but told about their days in vivid detail, nothing held back. Most of us could not fathom getting through one day, let alone months. And years. The humiliation, the cruelty, the abject sustained pure evil is incomprehensible. The girls do everything to survive for each other. When Magda later joins them there, they are elated to see her but filled with terror knowing she would now be subject to what they are. The author describes various jobs at camp, fearful guards, dreadful punishments, humiliation, tattooed numbers, transportation of prisoners, separations, death marches and murder. But she also describes the power of sisterly love and the unbreakable bond these sisters had even in the most desperate situations. Breaking people's bodies and spirits is unconscionable. How the girls escape is nothing short of miraculous.

The author also describes what happens to the girls beyond the hellish camp including marriages, families and physical moves including to Israel, their Jewish homeland. This remarkably important book should be required reading. It is THAT moving, that powerful. One of my favourite aspects of the book includes the afterword and author's notes. We are told about how the women coped with memories, nightmares and guilt. But the haunting stories will stay with me.

Kudos to Heather Morris for writing about these wonderful sisters who survived by wit, quick thinking, sheer will, encouragement and love. They are true heroines. Readers who are willing to feel emotions all over the place will be highly rewarded.

My sincere thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the honour of reading this precious book. The author writes like no other.

There are some really wonderful things about this book. First of all, even though this is part of a trilogy, all three books read as a stand alone. There is also a brief mention of Lale and Cilka from her two previous books which I enjoyed since I’ve read the first two.

This is the true story of the three Meller sisters who survived their imprisonment at Auschwitz. This book starts in their early childhood where the reader quickly feels the depth of their bond that remained with the sisters throughout their lives. I thoroughly enjoyed this previously untold story.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. I highly recommend this book.

From the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey, comes the latest from Heather Morris. Three Sisters.

The story of three sisters. Cibi, Magda and, Livia, who in 1929 Slovakia, make a promise to their father that they will always stay together no matter what comes.

It is years later when the youngest, Livia, is told to be at Temple the next Friday night to go work for the Germans. While Magda is in the hospital ill. Cibi is working with a group to get to Palestine and is shocked when she visits home and finds that her little sister is being sent to the German Camps. Remembering their promise to their father, Cibi volunteers to go with Livia. With Magda safe in the hospital, maybe she will be safe.

Loaded like cattle into boxcars and stripped of all they own, the girls are only teenagers and have no idea that they are headed to Auschwitz to work for the Nazis. As they struggle to survive and stay strong, Magda is taken as well. The horrors they endure will make you weep. But when they find Magda, they make each other a promise. To live. No matter what they have to do and make it back home.

These girls fought everything the Nazis threw at them and they came out alive. Traumatized, but alive. Now their home is under Communist control and they decide to travel to Israel. To a new home.

This series of Historical Fiction with some facts is one of the most heartbreaking you will read. But if they could live it, I could read it. I wept, I was so angry on their behalf. The courage of these girls and the unbreakable bonds they shared were inspiring.

With two of the sisters still in Israel with their families, they shared their story with Morris. While a lot of these people were real, and the unspeakable things that were done to them were real, this is Historical Fiction.

It is a wonderful thing when a book is so well done you feel as if you are there. You can smell the awful smells in the camps. You can feel the fear of the people treated so cruelly. While this book is full of heartache it is also full of love, courage, and determination.

Well Done!

NetGalley/ October 5th, 2021 by St. Martin’s Press

The Three Sisters follows the life of Livia, Magda and Cibi. Inspired by the lives of Lale, Gita and Cilka, it follows the sisters through Auschwitz and Birkenau, the death march and their move from their homeland to Israel.
Heather Morris not only told the sister’s stories but brought them to life. I have read many books on Auschwitz including Morris’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Morris once again provided a detail account of Auschwitz and events surrounding the genocide. I was unaware of how many people moved to Israel after the World War II and had not given thought to the human side of many of the SS officers. The content will always be difficult but Morris research and account will insure that the lives of Lale, Gita and Cilka will always be remembered.
Thank you to Heather Morris, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I have loved the other books this author has written dealing with Auschwitz and the addition of this one only confirms her status as a go to author for me. I had been hearing about this one for a few months and was thrilled to get the chance to read it early! This book is definitely on my list of recommendations for historical fiction readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

Talk about a moving book! This story is a heartbreaking story about sisters who had such dedication to family. They made a promise to their ailing father and would do everything to keep it.
Heather Morris writes a haunting story about the Holocaust and their horrible camps. I found myself reading with tears falling down my cheeks with me even knowing. But with all the sad facts Heather including in this story she also wrote of hope and tiny tender moments in such a ugly time.
I highly recommend everyone to read Three Sisters! We all need to reflect on how horrible the Jewish community was treated and we need to make sure the divide towards people needs to stop.

Three Sisters is the story of 3 sisters from Slovakia, coming of age during WWII. This chronicles the journey from innocence to German concentration camps and beyond. No matter how horrific it gets the family bond supports them thru lowest times. After the war they emigrate to Israel and have beautiful families making sure all the generations never forget. Heartbreaking but beautiful showing the strong family and sisterly bonds.