Heartbreaking beautiful book based on the life after the Holocaust and a ladies journey to find out who she is and to uncover the secrets that have been kept from her with the hope of keeping her safe.
Shari J Ryan is fast becoming one of my favourite authors! This is my 4th book by her all like the others this book has moved me in way I didn't know was possible.
Following Annie on her journey feels like a privileged! Her and Fisher are two very special characters that I know will be staying with me for a very long time along with Charlie and Amelia!
One of the things that really stood out to me when reading this book was the strength and determination that Annie shows when faced with the truth! She never questions or doubts the love that Amelia has for her even at the very beginning. When following Annie on her journey the emotions she was feeling felt like they were flowing from the pages and wrapping themselves around me in a way that it felt like I was feeling and experiencing everything she was in the same way.
This book was a beautiful page turner that I couldnt put down! I can't wait to read more by this author.

I had to keep checking to see if this was really fiction because authoress Shari J. Ryan has written another masterpiece! She took me on a rollercoaster of kaleidoscopic range and proportions of emotions from laughter to weeping and everything in between. Likely other readers will experience the same effect as Ryan takes one on Annie's ride of wondering who she is, the shock of discovery and beyond.

This is yet another story springing out of WWII but this narrative reveals another angle of its abject depravity borne from an evil man with his evil plan to especially annihilate all Jews. The rippled aftermath effect that still filtered down even after the lapse of years post liberation.

As the book title suggests, a baby (child) was born in Theresianstadt concentration camp (aka prison). How this baby escaped, its life thereafter and the distressing consequences of being a 'missing child' have repercussions of which even the woman who helped the baby bolt for freedom did not imagine. It is never easy to lose a child nor to protect one from all odds of being hated and eliminated based upon ones ethnic and/or religious background. However, this woman did marvelously with help from a surprize source.

Annie grows and finds Fraser, also a missing person, missing in the sense of slipped through the fingers, and together they wade and struggle to find out who they are and grapple with what their lives should have been, then try to find acceptance of what is. There are not enough thumbs available to give this story enough thumbs up.

Shari J. Ryan has other such genre of books that will likely be as riveting as this one has been. Check them out, especially this one, The Prison Child.

~ Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

April 2022

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the review copy sent by NetGalley and the publiser.

“I’ve been a humble person, appreciative and grateful for the life I have, but there is one thing I need - the truth. I desperately need to know who I am and where I come from, but it must come from the person who is responsible for making me one of the lucky missing prisoners of the Holocaust.”

Shari J. Ryan captures the dual feelings felt by those who transitioned from a life of cruelty into a world of freedom. She explores the emotions involved in discovering who we really are after the devastation of learning that everything in our life is a lie.

In this second book of the trilogy, readers get Annie’s point of view, both past and present. As a baby, Annie was heroically rescued from Theresienstadt and raised in a loving home. It wasn’t until she was a teenager, that she overheard something that turned her life upside down. This news, in addition to what she hears from a speaker at her school, sends her on a solo search for the truth where she meets Fisher, another missing child prisoner from the Holocaust. Unfortunately, even when a sliver of truth is revealed, there are still lies and secrets that Annie has to deal with. Her search to uncover the truth is a delicate balance between finding and losing herself. In the process, however, Annie learns the value of triumphing over adversity.

Against all the emotional trauma, emerges a wonderful soul. You’ll love and appreciate Fisher. We all need a Fisher in our lives! As is the case with all of Ryan’s books, she adeptly taps into readers’ emotions in her quest to uncover what really makes us who we are. This powerful and compelling story allowed me to see Annie’s journey from a different perspective. Be forewarned: this magical tale needs to be read with a box of Kleenex nearby. It’ll have you convinced that there needs to be an elite star level - one ABOVE the 5-star status. Shari Ryan, you are a master craftsman of authors.

Let’s take one moment to appreciate the cover. What amazing symbolism - one couldn’t have chosen a better one to represent the metamorphosis of Annie’s life.

I was given this advance copy by Shari J. Ryan, Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Anna's Story

1943 Czechoslovakia, inside the Nazi prison camp Theresienstadt a young mother has a child in the cold stark barracks where the Jewish women have been housed. The mother is taken away and the child sent to the house where children are kept.

Years later on her twelfth birthday Anna overhears her parents talking and she finds out she does not belong to them, that they are not her real parents. It is on that day that her search for the truth begins.

Anna searches on her own as she does not want her parents to know she overheard them. She finds another missing child from the Holocaust named Fisher. He is in Czechoslovakia and his parents perished in the Holocaust. They begin to correspond by mail. This is the start of a long search for Anna for her beginning and for any relatives she may still have left.

The story is of Anna and her search for the truth, of how this has affected her life and her mental state. She marries Fisher, but her mind never settles. Meanwhile, life keeps going and Anna and Fisher suffer a terrible loss. Will Anna ever find the truth of her birth?

It is a story of how the effects of war and of the Holocaust threw long arms across those that survived and how hard it was for some of them to forget an even to talk about what happened. How so many children were left without parents and so many families torn apart never to find each other again. The horrible toll that it took on all involved.

This was an interesting book on this period of history told from the perspective of a child born during the Holocaust to a mother she never knew. I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Shari J. Ryan for writing another great story, to Bookouture for publishing it and to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to read and review.

Bookouture 05-24-2022

“The Prison Child” by Shari J. Ryan is the second in the “Lost Words” trilogy of historical fiction books about WWII. While this book can be read as a stand-alone, I would recommend reading the first book (The Girl with the Diary) in order to understand a bit of the previous story (and connecting who is who and situations).

I found myself with really mixed feelings while reading this book. I understand Annie’s wondering “who am I really” question, but at the same time, it felt like she was ungrateful for the life she did have. In fact, when her husband, Fisher, basically told her those words, I nearly applauded. While in the end Annie did find peace, understanding, and acceptance - there was a lot of emotional angst to get to that point. I found some of the finer plot points a bit odd - getting onto an airplane without a passport could’ve been possible in 1952, but re-entering the US from a known communist country seems difficult (though maybe she lied and told immigration she flew from London?)? Also, Charlie not knowing a pretty basic fact about Auschwitz rather blew my mind. I did like parts of the book and the author’s research and caring about this story are obvious. But, in the end, this book wasn’t my favorite one by this author, which I found disappointing. I will read the last book in the series and do look forward to Ms. Ryan’s future books.

In all the things that I have read, watched, listened too and thought about the Holocaust I have never once thought about babies being born in the concentration camps, and now that I have read this book and that I think about it, a) i can't stop thinking about it and b) i don't know why I didn't think about it before - like the Nazi's would see a pregnant jewess and let her off. Thinking of anyone that suffered through this time is hard but imagine being born into that brutality and depravation it honestly doesn't bear thinking about. However, the author did, and I am very glad she did.
This book is incredibly well written with a gripping storyline and well developed characters - some of which I really came to love and become invested in. I couldn't put this book down and read it one sitting, a sitting that I criend a lot in. A truly heartwrenching but fantastic read.

The Prison Child by Shari. J Ryan

Very few people can say they were born inside a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Disease, starvation, and much worse, prevented most prisoners from surviving.
A sad but uplifting story of a baby that is born during WW2 whilst the mother is interred in a concentration camps . I should image !any babies were born at that time , but how many survived to learn of their birth ?
A wonderful sad , poignant but beautifully written about tale of love and survival.

Yesterday I read The Girl with the Diary and today I read The Prison Child. With both books I found it so difficult to put them down. This book was definitely a tear jerker. It was so good I ended up staying up way too late reading. I look forward to reading The Soldier’s Letters next, but I need to get some sleep first.