OR

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
The Girl in the Striped Dress: A completely heartbreaking and gripping World War 2 page-turner, based on a true story Kindle Edition
Price | New from |
Paperback, Import
"Please retry" | ₹1,083.92 |
- Kindle Edition
₹0.00 This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited ₹249.00 to buy - Paperback
₹1,137.00
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he whispered, pressing a note into her hand. Her entire body trembled when she read it: I am in love with you.
Helena steps off the cattle train onto the frozen grounds of Auschwitz. She has twenty-four hours to live. Scheduled to be killed tomorrow, she is not even tattooed with a prison number. As the snow falls around her, she shivers, knowing that she has been sentenced to death for a crime she didn’t commit.
When a gray-clad officer marches towards Helena and pulls her away, she fears the worst. Instead, he tells her that it’s one of the guard’s birthdays and orders her to serenade him.
Inside the SS barracks the air is warm, thick with cigarette smoke and boisterous conversation. After she sings to the guard, Franz, he presses a piece of cake into her hands––the first thing she has eaten in days. On the spot, he orders her life to be saved, forever changing the course of her fate.
What follows is a love story that was forbidden, that should have been impossible, and yet saved both of their lives––and hundreds of others––in more ways than one.
Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Choice, and The Orphan Train will be utterly gripped by this unputdownable page-turner. This heartbreaking yet hopeful novel shows that love can survive anything and grow anywhere.
This book was previously published as Auschwitz Syndrome.
Readers love The Girl in the Striped Dress:
“Wow. Wow, wow, WOW. I almost have no words. This was an incredible, heart-wrenching read… Insanely captivating… I cried buckets reading this story… Wow… What a tale. I seriously can’t get over this and I’m so glad I was able to read it.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Wow!! Time to clear your schedule for the afternoon, coffee pot on and phone turned off––you won’t want to put this one down.” Avid Reader, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I loved this… Wow! Stopped me in my tracks and made me shed a tear. We must never ever forget… Stunning.”Nicki's Book Blog, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Once in a while, a book comes along your way that breaks your heart. The Girl in the Striped Dress is one such book that broke me from within, tore me apart and left me shattered.” Next On Reading List, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Everyone needs to read this book!” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Amazing novel!... This was a fantastic story! And one that will stay with me for some time! The story is hard-hitting, dark and simply wonderful. Heartbreaking, horrifying, unimaginable and tear-worthy, you won’t be able to put it away!… Ellie couldn’t have done a better job writing this. It was mind-blowing!… One that I will most definitely be talking about!” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Had me in tears and I had to put the book down on a number of occasions to compose myself… Have plenty of tissues handy.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Just fascinating. It kept me reading until all hours of the night… A must-read for everyone.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Tremendous… Unputdownable… Guaranteed to make you cry. The story was so beautifully written… A heartbreaking, tear-jerking and emotional book... Will not let you put the book down! You'll be hooked.”Tropical Girl Reads, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication date9 August 2021
- File size2774 KB
Customers who read this book also read
Product details
- ASIN : B096FGQZW7
- Publisher : Bookouture (9 August 2021)
- Language : English
- File size : 2774 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 364 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #152,531 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #7,765 in Historical Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #11,152 in Historical Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Ellie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning historical fiction author, whose works have been translated into 14 languages. She owes her interest in the history of the Second World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, "The Girl from Berlin." Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by collecting rare memorabilia and documents.
In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her fiancé and their two dogs.
Readers' Favorite - winner in the Historical fiction category (2016) - "The Girl from Berlin: Standartenführer's Wife" (first place)
Readers' Favorite - winner in the Historical fiction category (2016) - "The Austrian" (honorable mention)
New Apple - 2016 Award for Excellence in Independent Publishing - "The Austrian" (official selection)
Readers' Favorite - winner in the Historical fiction category (2017) - "Emilia"
Readers' Favorite - winner in the Historical fiction category (2018) - "A Motherland's Daughter, A Fatherland's Son"
Customer reviews

Reviewed in India on 9 August 2021
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from India
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Ellie Midwood takes onto a journey into the Auschwitz concentration camp, in the German occupied Poland during the Holocaust. It is a troubling journey, which allows you a glance at the cruel fate suffered by scores of victims. The circumstances are bleak. People are starving and being beaten and treated worse than animals. There are a lot of snippets of history in this historical fiction that will take you back to the vileness of those times and make you live through the plight of the victims. This is something really loved about this book. The story of kindness blooming within an environment filled with hatred, death and tragedy is a heartwarming expedition.
The story had such engaging characters, whose fickle emotions were intriguing. Did Frank really see through all the false propaganda that he was raised on? Was Helena fit to stand trial? Was Helena sick? Did Frank really love her or was there more to his demeanor? These kind of questions make it difficult to put the book down.
I haven't read a lot of books around the Holocaust, but there are several on my TBR. It was by mere co-incidence that I came across this book on NetGalley and the blurb instantly got to me. It was a great read for me. I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC. Loved it!
#TheGirlintheStripedDress #NetGalley
The story is primarily told from Dr. Hoffman's and Helena's perspective.
Helena is a Slovakian Jew who arrives at Austwiz in March 1942 to be gassed the next day. However, the same night she is chosen to sing a song for a SS officer named Franz. Franz gets enamored by her and had her and the other women shift to Kanada by cancelling their gassing.
Helena hates Franz with all her might and when she gets a letter from him telling "I fell in love with you", she is unable to bear it and shreds the letter to pieces.
But gradually, she learns of his kindness and when he saved her thrice from the gas chamber and typhus, she couldn't control the feelings developing for Franz.
In a place where people were either dead or went mad, Helena was saved by a young man's love.
And, just like that love blossomed in a place where only death was meant to be.
The psychiatrist assumed that Helena didn't actually love Franz but couldn't name the actual condition since Stockholm Syndrome wasn't discovered at that time but as the story progresses and the psychiatrist learn of the whole story, he is not sure.
The book is a rollercoaster of emotions. I have never read about WWII or the holocaust, so this book was confusing at first. But the author did a very remarkable job in research and explanation. Elle Midwood gave me enough reasons to read about WWII.
This book isn't all beautiful, it had many tearjearking incidents. The mere thought of the sufferings gave me shivers.
The book talks about everything in details. The author made sure to let the reader feel all sorts of emotions whether it's hate, pain or love.
This book provided me many details of WWII. The chapter named 'A Note On The History' tells us that it is a true story where most of the characters and incidents were real. The chapter was quite informative.
I will recommend this book to everyone. This heartbreaking and beautiful tale of suffering, pain, love and survival is a must read.

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 9 August 2021
The story is primarily told from Dr. Hoffman's and Helena's perspective.
Helena is a Slovakian Jew who arrives at Austwiz in March 1942 to be gassed the next day. However, the same night she is chosen to sing a song for a SS officer named Franz. Franz gets enamored by her and had her and the other women shift to Kanada by cancelling their gassing.
Helena hates Franz with all her might and when she gets a letter from him telling "I fell in love with you", she is unable to bear it and shreds the letter to pieces.
But gradually, she learns of his kindness and when he saved her thrice from the gas chamber and typhus, she couldn't control the feelings developing for Franz.
In a place where people were either dead or went mad, Helena was saved by a young man's love.
And, just like that love blossomed in a place where only death was meant to be.
The psychiatrist assumed that Helena didn't actually love Franz but couldn't name the actual condition since Stockholm Syndrome wasn't discovered at that time but as the story progresses and the psychiatrist learn of the whole story, he is not sure.
The book is a rollercoaster of emotions. I have never read about WWII or the holocaust, so this book was confusing at first. But the author did a very remarkable job in research and explanation. Elle Midwood gave me enough reasons to read about WWII.
This book isn't all beautiful, it had many tearjearking incidents. The mere thought of the sufferings gave me shivers.
The book talks about everything in details. The author made sure to let the reader feel all sorts of emotions whether it's hate, pain or love.
This book provided me many details of WWII. The chapter named 'A Note On The History' tells us that it is a true story where most of the characters and incidents were real. The chapter was quite informative.
I will recommend this book to everyone. This heartbreaking and beautiful tale of suffering, pain, love and survival is a must read.

Top reviews from other countries

The Girl in the Striped Dress is another book that reveals both a harrowing and utlimately hopeful story from Auschwitz. There are so many stories untold of those who survived, or indeed perished having resisted the brutality with tenacity and determination to survive, yet sadly succumbed.
It sounds too extraordinary and unbelievable, that a Jewish inmate and an SS Officer can not only find love, but survive the hell of Auschwitz and emerge as survivors to marry, live and tell their story.
Bravo Ellie Midwood. We need to hear these stories. We owe it to every survivor and all those who never came home.
At times a painful, disturbing book that doesn't shy away from the brutal reality of Auschwitz, but it is written with compassion and care to leave you glad you read it. And to understand the one overriding message.
Love can truly overcome hate.

Well written, the novel helps to capture the horror of the Holocaust and how people tried to survive. The descriptions of both inmate and perpetrators is harrowing and especially the whole sickening process that was Auschwitz(and Treblinka, Sobibor, Belsec, Chelmno and the multitude of other camps and sub-camps). Having taught History for decades and with a special focus teaching the Holocaust, I could easily recommend The Girl in the Striped Dress as a further resource for schools. In places it is very powerful in its imagery but I never felt that the Holocaust should be sanitized.
Overall, very pleased. It was good to read about a positive out of a negative. Recommended.


Although I've read books that refer to "privileged" concentration camp inmates this is the first I've read from their viewpoint. The author dealt with conflicting emotions, guilt and the will to survive very well.
The book is based on a true case of a SS officer marrying a Jewish inmate in his charge after the end of the war. A highly unusual story, this book raises additional issues of the power and unpredictable nature of love, forgiveness and regret. Throughout the author displays close attention to detail and her commitment to accurate and strenuous research shines through.
Using the facts, the author creates believable, sympathetic characters that I truly felt for.
The book structure worked brilliantly. The experiences of Franz and Helena are recounted in front of an American psychologist, Dr Hoffman at Franz's denazification trial. At the start of the trial, Dr Hoffman believes Helena is acting under duress and the marriage is a sham. By the end of the trial, while still questioning how it was possible, Dr Hoffman accepts they share a love and are deeply interdependent of each other.
I've followed this author since the start and this is my personal favourite to date.

Throughout the book you are in the company of Auschwitz, one of the main characters, a demon lurking and inflicting terror at a whim. Within this darkness is the hub of the story, the relationship between Helena and Franz. Here horror and love mingle and the reader like Doctor Hoffman, the psychologist working on the case after the war, are left wondering if their bond was a choice or enslavement.
This book is a must-read. I hope it will be read by many as we must never forget.