The Red Ribbon: 'Captivates, inspires and ultimately enriches' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz

By Author / Illustrator

Lucy Adlington

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

11+

Publisher

Hot Key Books

ISBN

9781471406287

Format

Hardback

Published

21-09-2017

Synopsis

Nominated for the CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2019Rose, Ella, Marta and Carla. In another life we might all have been friends together. But this was Birchwood.For fans 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.

Reviews

Ella loves sewing and is delighted to land her dream job of designing and making stylish clothes. But this is not an ordinary sewing shop but the Upper Tailoring Studio of Birchwood, a concentration camp, where jobs are all important. Consumed by her love of fashion and helped along by her friend Rose's stories, it becomes hard for Ella to see what is really happening all around her. Brought back to reality with a hard bump, Ella struggles to keep Rose and herself alive when all around them people suffer hardship and brutality. I was unsure at the beginning of this book whether I would like the writing style as there are a lot of references to food and Ella's old life. This is perhaps required to show us what she has lost and how far removed her new life is from that which was taken away. The book, however, swept me along and is cleverly written as the harsh truths of life in such a brutal camp are hidden amongst the tale with parts revealed slowly and subtly. I had to know whether Ella and Rose would survive but also enjoyed Ella's obsession with fashion and her habit of naming people after animals. Girl readers will love this and be drawn into the life in the camp. Well worth a read. 287 pages / Ages 12+ / Reviewed by Lorraine Ansell, school librarian.