This is an informative work about a horrific time though it is primarily fiction, it’s easy to feel transported to the days of Auschwitz and its horrors. Tuck does an excellent job in creating a story for someone whose story was tragically ended prematurely and left undocumented. The narrator was excellent as well. Would recommend.

Reading this book is like walking through a well-curated exhibit. There is a reasonable presumption of prior general knowledge of the Holocaust in general and Auschwitz in particular, and the author expertly lays shards of stories, quotes, artifacts, and memories onto that background in a way that leaves you with a new understanding of it all.

Needless to say, this should not be the first book you ever read about the Holocaust, World War II, or Eastern Europe - this is a hyperfocused snapshot of one girl's experience, and since she didn't have the big picture, neither do we. But the terrible beauty of the book requires the reader to realize that every one of the six million and more was the main character in their own story, so coming in with context is essential.

While I'm sure the print edition is also impactful, the audiobook lends itself particularly well to the experience of traveling back and forth among the characters, stories, and evidence. The narrator strikes precisely the right tone, and does not struggle with the Polish names of either people or places. The choice to emulate a German accent for German characters is a subtle touch that highlights the alien nature of the Nazi invaders - the Poles are "us" - narrated in an American accent with no "foreignness."

Thank you, thank you, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this one - I'm not sure I would have come across it on my own, and I hope it finds its audience.

This book is considered a work of fiction, but it reads very much like fiction. Overall, the book flowed, but some parts felt very dry. I’m not sure I would have gotten through without the audio. The subject matter was heartbreaking and I could tell a lot of research had been done. I just wish it didn’t feel so non-fiction.

The Rest is Memory was a very heavy listen but very well done. I learned a lot and the story was propulsive

I really like the concept of this novel, but the story was told in a very choppy way. The idea of mixing fact and fiction in the telling of the horrific experience of a young catholic girl transported to Auschwitz intrigued me and parts of the novel were very gripping. The writing style wasn’t for me. It wasn’t always clear where we were in the timeline as there was a lot of jumping around. I did listen to the audio version of this book. The narrator did a nice job. This is a short novel, so may be worth the read if you are interested in a work of historical fiction that takes place during the Holocaust. Thank you NetGalley and RBmedia for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I am somewhat speechless after reading Lily Tuck’s The Rest is Memory. Czeslawa Kwoka, a fourteen-year old catholic Pole, is put to death in a concentration camp called Auschwitz in Poland run by the Nazis. The time she, her mother, and her friend spend in the Auschwitz spans a timespan from December 13th 1942 on March 12th 1943. In that time, the narrator uses memory to piece together the details of Czeslawa’s life amidst the strife of being held in a concentration camp. These details are written hauntingly with stark precision in bare language to bring to life the agony the young girl, her mother and her friend witness. This is definitely a challenge to describe, especially since having not been witness. Nonetheless, there is a lack of description of the hunger and starvation and what that does to ordinarily good people.

Thanks to NetGalley and RBmedia for the chance to review this piece.

This novel is based on the short life of Czeslawa who at the age of 14 was sent to Auchwitz in 1942 and became a number 26947. She would only live for three months.

Each prisoner was photographed and recorded. Wilhelm Brasse took thousands of photographs, he too was a prisoner. Czeslawa is remembered together with others who arrived at the same time. A story but based on some facts.

Well written and well narrated (I listened to the audiobook).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for my honest review.


While this book was informative, it felt very back and forth and some parts were hard to follow and hard to decipher flashbacks from reality. It is a very factual book, no sugar coating with a lot of statistics.

I'm afraid I'd never heard of Lily Tuck before I read this short novel. I'm still trying to work out why since the writing is just exquisite.

I listened to the audio version, which was beautifully read by Elisabeth Rodgers who, I imagine must have had to put any feelings to one side just to get through the text.

The story of Czeslawa is fictional in that the only thing known about her are the basic facts of her very short life. The rest of the story of her life has been imagined by Lily Tuck. The rest of the book are facts about the invasion of Poland, what happened to its people and the facts about those who ran the camps where so many Polish people lost their lives.

I couldn't stop listening to this book even though it was incredibly hard to hear. I think what made it so horrifying was the juxtaposition of Czeslawa having petty quarrels with other children, worrying about her dog, wondering what happened to other inhabitants of her home town as opposed to the stark facts of how Höss and his men ran the camp, their utter indifference to the things that were done to other human beings and the end that the Poles and their tormentors came to.

This is an extraordinary piece of work. I was moved beyond anything else I've ever read about the Holocaust. This is such a powerful novel that should be on everyone's reading list.

Very highly recommended. It is a difficult book to stomach but all the more important for that reason.

Thankyou so very much to Netgalley and RB Media for the audio advance review copy. It felt like a privilege to read this.

This is a dad book. Of course it is, it's about WWII and Auschwitz. I don't know why I am drawn to these books. Perhaps it is too see that "it could always be worse". Good story, and the narrator did a good job too.

Many thanks to Net Galley and RB Media for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There isn’t anything flowery here to soften each blow. These aren’t invented characters assigned false heroics. This a brutal, realistic imagining of a young girl’s life, blended with many other lives, that were all exterminated in Auschwitz. If you want a beautiful book, don’t read this. It will not make you comfortable, touch your heart, or let you cry tears for someone who never existed. It’s a knife, rusty and jagged, with truth carved into its blade.

I am immensely grateful to Recorded Books and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.