In the middle of summer, omnipresent heat radiates as a group of elderly people are remembering their youth. The story focuses on two sisters, Leokadia and Czechna, who live together in a retirement home not far from Warsaw. These are not ordinary stories they are sharing, because both of them spent time as children in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany.

At the center is Czechna, who at the age of 12 was saved from extermination by the notorious doctor Josef Mengele, the real-life Nazi officer and physician who was known as the ''angel of death'' for the experiments he conducted on prisoners, including twins and siblings.

This is a story both provocative and disturbing about the fear that lingers in victims. Was the sisters'' relationship with the executioner a desperate attempt to save their lives, or perhaps they harbour a hideous pride and sense of superiority over other prisoners? Rudzka''s extraordinary writing turns unsettling questions about memory and survival into art.


Format Häftad Omfång 224 sidor Språk Engelska Förlag Seven Stories Press UK Utgivningsdatum 2024-04-04 ISBN 9781911710080