Mama's love was the only thing that made life worth living. In those long, dark, cold and hungry days, it was Mama who kept me going. I'll always remember her quiet, continual presence, her prayers and her love. We never left each other's side. She was everything to me.
[please could we use the author's personal photos on the back as part of the design]
'Mama, it's me.' I held her hand in mine, hoping it would give her the strength to hold on.
Finally, she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.
'Do not cry when I die.'
'Quite simply the most important book you will read this year' Hazel Gaynor
'An extraordinary read' Lorraine Kelly
'Deeply moving' Daily Mail
From invasion to liberation, September 1939 to April 1945, as Renee was marched from ghetto to camp, there was one constant. One hand that clutched hers - her mother's. Every day for nearly six years, mother and daughter were bound together in hell. From Auschwitz-Birkenau to Bergen-Belsen, they were a powerful source of solace and hope for one another.
The strength of Sala's love gave them both something fragile yet beautiful to cling to in an ugly, depraved world. It was her mother who hid Renee, lied to the SS, went right when she was directed left - whose small actions had life-saving consequences. Now, for Renee, the need to share has finally overcome the desire to forget.
A Mother's Promise is a love letter to a mother eighty years in the making.
*****
'Will stay with me for a long time... A beautiful account, so movingly told' Anna Stuart
'Powerful, poignant, and deeply important. A must-read' Elizabeth Bellak
'This is a story the world needs to know' Madeline Martin
'This book travels to the very heart of existence' Joshua Levine