AustLit

'WHEN THEY WERE young, the three Meller sisters — Cibi, Magda, and Livi — promised their father that they would always take care of one another and never let anyone separate them. But they were Slovakian Jews, and they grew into their teens as Hitler rose to power. Soon enough, they were forced apart: Cibi, 19, and Livi, 15, were carted off to Auschwitz by the Hlinka Guard, some of whom were former classmates. Madga, 17, was left behind with their mother and grandfather, often hiding in the woods, until two and a half years later she too was dragged off to Auschwitz and the sisters were reunited. Starved, improperly clad for bitter winters, sick with typhus, and thrust into hard labor, astonishingly all three survived the camps, escaped a death march, and built a new life in Israel. Their real-life story is captured in the gut-wrenching yet stubbornly hopeful novel Three Sisters.' (Introduction)