Red Ribbon

By: Lucy Adlington
Location:FIC ADL
Genre: Historic Fiction- War

I feel that this book is a brilliant example of showing that hope and friendship is possible in even the darkest of places, even in the monstrosity that was the Holocaust, which destroyed the lives of millions of people. So, to all the readers and dreamers out there, don't give up hope. -- Grace, aged 14 

Rose, Ella, Marta and Carla. In another life we might have all been friends together. But this was Birchwood.

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.

Every dress she makes could be 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.

"In Auschwitz, teenagers Ella and Rose survive because they create clothes for the Commandant's wife. Despite the dark situation, the friends' compassion, friendship and humanity win out"
 -Candis Magazine 
" A terrific read and a great story of endurance and survival " -School Librarian