This isn't the most well-written book, when telling the stories of survivors, it's not the quality of the writing that matters. I've followed Lily and Dov on TikTok for a while now, so I was excited for the opportunity to read Lily's story, even though I knew it would be a difficult read.

One of the things that really stood out about Lily's memoir is how much it focused on the time after liberation. It seems like often, the stories end at liberation, and don't continue on to express the challenges with finding a way to move forward. Half of Lily's Promise was dedicated to the 'after' and I felt like this stood out from other memoirs. This is one of those memoirs that should be taught in schools.

Lily shares her memories throughout her whole life. This book shows the importance of growing up in a loving home, and the value of family and friends. Lily shared that these are what helped her get through a traumatic time and helped her to move forward from that experience along with a few kind gestures from strangers.

Lily had promised herself to tell the world about the camps if she survived. Unfortunately the world was not ready for many years. I am happy that she has the opportunity to share her life and memories with us through this book, and many more ways.

I have read several books from the memories of the holocaust survivors and this one shares the experiences but it also goes through her life before and after plus how it has impacted her children and grandchildren.

Lily Ebert is a survivor. She survived Auschwitz and was determined to tell her story so that no one forgot what hell she and others went through, so that those that didn't live to tell their stories could still be heard. Lily tells her story in a very moving way and it will touch your heart!

Highly recommend!! My first book to read by this author but definitely not my last!! Uniquely and beautifully written, this story and its characters stay with you long after you finish the book.

ARC from Netgalley - thank you for introducing me to this gem.

This is THE BEST book about the Holocaust that I have ever read. I learned so much about "what came next." The survivors of the camps had so much life to live after and so many aspects of the fallout I had never considered. I am humbled at all I learned and in awe of the courage it took capture all of this.

This should be required reading in all schools.

Lily’s Promise will grab you by the heart and soul and not let you go. It is written with reflection, in a simple and forthright manner that is suitable for readers of many ages, from elementary school on up. And it should be. It’s hard to grapple with the fact that over a lifetime of 97 years, her time in the camps took only about one year, but it was a year that affected all 96 others. And hers is the first account I have read that addresses not just the year of great evils, but also the love, hope, pain and growth from all the other years as well. That perspective is long overdue to be shared. Highly recommend.

Sit and let your grandmother tell you a story, that's what Lily's Promise feels like. As a grandchild of a Holocaust survivor, I initially had deep ties to this story, yet I was surprised how different it was and how different Lily's experience was from my family's. This story is hard to read at times, but heartwarming all the same.

Lily's Promise, a memoir by Holocuast survivor Lily Ebert and her great-grandson Dov Forman, is a chilling new addition to the field of Holocaust studies. Beginning with her childhood in Hungary before the war, Lily shares her story and that of her family. Until being herded into a cattle car, Lily's childhood was for the most part joyful and uneventful. That all changed when she along with her mother and younger siblings arrived at Auschwitz. With one flick of a hand, her mother and two siblings are sent one direction while Lily and two other sisters are sent another. Lily takes on the responsibility of keeping what remains of her family together, survival, and keeping their hidden jewelry.

While focused on her resilience as a Holocaust survivor, Lily's Promise does not stop upon the war's ending. Her story continues to demonstrate how her experiences in the Holocaust and her survivor mentality impacted her life from that point. Her story travels from war-torn Europe to Palestine and back to Europe. While not a psychological study, her memoir does provide a marvelous peak into the how Holocaust survivors coped with the trauma they had experienced and how it impacted their families going forward. Lily's Promise is a wonderful resource that earns a place next to Night, The Diary of Anne Frank, and others of this genre.

I received a complimentary copy from HarperOne via NetGalley. All viewpoints are my own and I am not required to provide a positive review.

A heartbreaking, honest story of survival through one of history’s greatest atrocities. Lily’s truthful sharing is painful, but necessary to read. Her ability to persevere with hope and love is a testament to her character that serves as an inspiration!

Thanks so much to HarperOne for this advanced copy. I've read many books on the Holocaust. I believe this may be my favorite one.

Lily tells of her childhood. A loving home, no lack of food, warm beds. All this is taken away as her family is moved from their home to a ghetto. From the ghettos, her family is taken to Auschwitz. There they are separated. At the time, she doesn't understand what the separation means.

Lily has no intention on falling back on her promise to her father. She stays strong to keep her family alive.

We follow Lily from her childhood to adulthood. Touching, heart wrenching, horrifying events in her life.

Thank you to Lily for sharing her story. This is definitely one I will reread.

A powerful story. A great grandson, using social media, helps Lily find a very important person from her past and her story goes viral. Lily is a survivor and very strong. She was always a mother figure to her siblings, even more so when she and her sisters arrived at Auschwitz. Lily’s story is extraordinary and I like how it is the full spectrum. Stories like this are so precious and priceless. Each is unique and compelling.
A story that will stay with you.

With the help of her great-grandson, 97 yr. old Lily tells us of her tragic life while in a concentration camp during WWII. Her story will shock and sadden you, while her strength and determination will show you how she was able to keep her and her sisters together during their internment.

In Lily’s voice, we hear about her entire family being placed on a train and separated on arrival at the bootcamp, her and 3 of her sisters working as laborers while her mother and 2 siblings were sent to the incinerators. With the help and research of her great-grandson, Dov, they were able to piece together the dates and movements of Lily and siblings during and after the war.

This story is tragic, compelling, and keeps you tethered to the page until you find that you’ve finished Lily’s journey.

The narration was excellent, and I believe was an asset to the enjoyment of this amazing woman’s story.

Thank you to #NetGalley and HarperOne for this ARC. This opinion is my own.

historical-places-events, history, multicultural, jews, biography, memoir, memories, #NEVERFORGET, coping-mechanisms, mass-murder, social-media, PTSD*****

It hurts to read parts of the book. Lily and her siblings live in a loving Kosher home in Hungary with little or no knowledge of the scourge of Europe. When the family is split up and taken away, Lily manages to keep two of her sisters with her and even adds a few other girls at times. Lily is magnificently resourceful under incredible conditions. Man's inhumanity to man is made very clear in the way that so much is done to dehumanize those in the camps. Remember, these are civilian noncombatants. Not POWs. Life goes on for some, she is moved first to Switzerland and then Israel, marries and has children. Life goes well for a time until her beloved husband has several heart attacks and they go to England (not speaking English) for other cardiac treatment which goes well for a number of years. At the time when she is in despair over his death, she begins a new phase in her life initiated by her great-grandson and begins her own healing process as well. NEVER FORGET.
This is a very moving book that is needed now and in the future.
I requested and received a free e-book copy from HarperOne via NetGalley. Thank you

All of us know about the holocaust. Most of us have read The Diary of Anne Frank, probably as a requirement in high school or middle school. I have always actively sought out more information about that period of history due to my own heritage. I’ve wanted to know more about the stories of the survivors because in our house it just wasn’t talked about enough.

I heard about Lily’s Promise from an interview Dov was giving on Good Morning America or something like that. They were talking about this book coming out and I knew I had to read it. Lily takes us on a journey through her life from early childhood with her family, her time in concentration camps (yes, plural), how she came to speak out about her life, through Dov bringing her full circle to the family of the soldier who left her a message on a banknote.

I think now more than ever it is so important for survivors like Lily to have their stories told. For the world to really know what happened to them. Some wish for history to be retold, for events of the past to be watered down to make them more palatable for the masses, but the events of WWII weren’t palatable. They were horrific and devastating and those who survived (and those that were lost) are heroes.

I highly recommend this book and hope that it becomes required reading for all in the future.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I read these stories because I find these people amazing!

Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert was liberated from Auschwitz in 1945. As she left the camp, a Jewish-American soldier gave Lily a banknote on which he’d written “good luck and happiness.” When Lily’s great-grandson, Dov, posts the banknote on social media, Lily’s story went viral and empowered her to keep her promise, tell everyone the truth about the camp.

Lily begins her story with her idyllic childhood in a small Hungarian town, and her family’s deportation to Auschwitz. Upon arrival, Lily and her sisters, Renee and Piri, went right. Their mother (Nina), brother (Bela) and sister (Berta) went left. We learn how Lily and her sisters survived, which I think was due to Lily (although she is too humble to ever think so). As the eldest, all Lily cared about were her younger sisters, and protecting and taking care of them was her purpose.

The book is a chronicle of Lily’s time in the camp, liberation and life after. It is a survivor story that demonstrates the power of love to see us through the darkest of times.

https://candysplanet.wordpress.com/

Such a moving story about a Hungarian family caught up in the Holocaust.
Lilly is one of the children that is able to survive this horrible experience. In this book, she shares the horrors of what transpired during the time from when she was living essentially a middle class life right through to her 97th birthday. The time she spent in the internment camps was not long, but might well have been a lifetime.
That she survived is a miracle. The testament she makes here should be a warning to all…this could literally happen in many countries, including our own.
Thank you so much for having written this book.

First off thank you to HarperOne and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Lily's Promise.

As a Jewish person, I try to read as much as I can when it comes to the Holocaust, survivors and anything to better educate myself about this horrific event in history. But the stories that touch me are the ones from real survivors - you cannot help but feel so much emotion knowing the bravery that it takes to share. This book was a hard read, its haunting, devastating and equally beautiful. One of the best reads so far this year for me and also important as we shall never forget! Highly recommend

In all of my reviews, this is the first time I felt so honored to be entrusted with the memories of a Holocaust survivor. Lily grew up in a happy family environment in Hungary, happy that is until the Holocaust. Along with her great grandson, she narrates her horrific experience at Auschwitz. But more moving to me is how she kept the truth of her experiences so as to protect her family and friends. The book details life after Auschwitz and how she moves on. Eventually, she helps to start the Holocaust Survivors group, to help others process their pain.

She tells the tale of how various people see her tatoo. That made the story all too real to me as I once saw a survivor's tatoo. While I knew that the Holocaust had happened, this symbol made real the tragedy, the loss of life. And I do not consider it a coincidence that I had started reading #Lily'sPromise on #InternationalHolocaustDay. Never, ever forget. God bless you, Lily.

While I was honored to receive an advance copy for review, all opinions are my own.

I already was familiar with Lily Ebert through social media, mostly Tiktok, so when I saw she wrote a memoir, I was definitely going to read it. This book is an accounting of Lily's life, starting in the 1920s and doing all the way through the present day, with some chapters from great-grandson Dov's pov explaining the twitter search that made them go viral. Lily takes readers through her happy childhood in Hungary with her loving family, through her and her sisters' time in Auschwitz (her mother and two youngest siblings were killed upon arrival at the camp), their trek to Israel post war, and the life she built for herself after the horrors she lived through. Lily's voice shines throughout the narrative, drawing readers into her story in an engaging way. Her story is one of loss but ultimately, of faith and hope. Integral throughout is a promise she made to her father, who died shortly before the war, to always look out for the family, and it was her dedication to keeping her younger sisters alive that helped get her through Auschwitz. What I liked most about this book was Lily's wartime experiences were only half the story, the other half, and almost more of the book, was dedicated to her post war life. Lily, with the love for her family and help from her friends, survived, and thrived, and hearing the story from Lily herself was one that I loved reading.

Not just a story, but that of a life lived. No sensationalism is included, but a well-written and heart-felt telling of a horrific time of the past. Lily and Dov have graced us with a telling of terror, torture, and death without pandering to those who seek others’ pain for their own gratification. I had tears as I read the last of Lily’s chapters in the book. Truly Lily lives a life of solemn grief. Yet through the years, she has come to terms with her past that has enabled her to share, with grace and dignity, the cautionary story warning us all of what may come if intolerance and apathy again assail humanity.