The Red Ribbon by Lucy Adlington

 

From Goodreads

Rose, Ella, Marta and Carla.

In another life we might all have been friends together.

But this was Birchwood.

For readers of The Diary of Anne Frank and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

As fourteen-year-old Ella begins her first day at work she steps into a world of silks, seams, scissors, pins, hems and trimmings. She is a dressmaker, but this is no ordinary sewing workshop. Hers are no ordinary clients.

Ella has joined the seamstresses of Birkenau-Auschwitz, as readers may recognise it. Every dress she makes could mean the difference between life and death. And this place is all about survival.

Ella seeks refuge from this reality, and from haunting memories, in her work and in the world of fashion and fabrics. She is faced with painful decisions about how far she is prepared to go to survive. Is her love of clothes and creativity nothing more than collaboration with her captors, or is it a means of staying alive? Will she fight for herself alone, or will she trust the importance of an ever-deepening friendship with Rose?

One thing weaves through the colours of couture gowns and camp mud - a red ribbon, given to Ella as a symbol of hope.

My thoughts

I gave this a 4 stars or 8/10.

I came across this YA book on BorrowBox the digital lending side of my local library.  I am so glad that I did find this book, with not having heard of it.

This story tells us about a young teenager called Ella who became a seamstress in Birchwood (Birkenau-Auschwitz) as she knew it.  Ella is one of many seamstresses whose job it is to make and design garments for their captors.  What seems a dream job initially, soon turns into one that she needs to keep in order to try to survive her time in Birchwood.  Given the opportunity to be in Ella's shoes, who wouldn't jump at the chance and it soon becomes apparent to her that in order to remain there, she has to give her all and stay below the radar of those that run the camps.  Is Ella able to keep her place on the team or do events get taken out of her hands and other things become more of a priority to her?

I found this an interesting read, I feel for anyone who suffered at the hands of the Germans during their time in camps such as Birchwood.  It must have been a terrifying situation to be in and so many lost their lives, this is an event in history that we must never forget.

Told in a series of parts that all feature a colour as their title, it gives us some other focus among the stripy drab clothes that the camp inhabitants wear.  At the heart of the story is the red ribbon that Ella is given, as it becomes something to focus on as a means of escapism and a light at the end of the tunnel for her in some ways.