Parents' Guide to Up From the Ashes

Parents need to now that Up From the Ashes is a historical novel by Sharon Cameron (The Light in Hidden Places), based on the true story of Sobibor death camp survivors Selma Wijnberg and Chaim Engel, who fell in love as prisoners, escaped together, married, and spent their lives bearing witness to the Holocaust. Violence is literally in the air the characters breathe, as the story unfolds under a steady cloud of smoke from the crematoriums and thousands of people are marched off trains to their deaths, their clothing left behind to be sorted by inmates able-bodied enough to work. People are beaten and killed for no reason every day. Entire families are massacred, often after we've become fond of them. When prisoners turn on their tormentors in an escape attempt, more killing ensues. The hellish tale reflects the historical reality, as documented in an appendix that provides references and background on characters and events. There's a strong theme of love, and looking out for your loved ones, as something that gives you hope and a reason to live when everything is telling you to give up and die. Prejudice, snobbery, and the ironic ways they surface, are a recurring theme, as all the characters are in the death camp because they're Jewish, but the Dutch prisoners look down on the Polish prisoners and the Poles think the Dutch aren't "really Jewish." Extensively researched and based on the subjects' own writings and their family stories, it's a thrilling, sometimes funny tale of love and survival amid brutal carnage.