Angela was not alone at Echo in making this book a reality. Kay Scarlett, Sandy Cull for her amazing cover design, Shaun Jury for internals. Ned Pennant-Rae and Talya Baker, copy editors extraordinaire and Ana Vucic for your proofreading in presenting the finished product. For extra editorial assistance, Cath Ferla and Kate Goldsworthy. Clive Hebard for managing the final stages of the publishing process. Thank you all so much.
There is a team in London at Bonnier Zaffre headed by Kate Parkin whose championing of this book and dedication to getting it to as many corners of the world as they can means I am forever in their debt. Thank you, Kate. Thank you to Mark Smith and Ruth Logan. And to Richard Johnson and Julian Shaw of Bonnier Publishing for seeing immediately the worth of this story.
To my brother Ian Williamson and sister-in-law Peggi Shea, who gave me their house in Big Bear, California in the middle of their winter for a month to write the first draft. Thanks to you and your fine accommodation, to paraphrase Sir Edmund Hillary: ‘I knocked the bugger off.’
A special thank you to my son-in-law Evan and sister-in-law Peggi for the small but not insignificant part you each played in my making the decision to adapt my screenplay into a novel. You know what you did!
Thanks to my brothers John, Bruce and Stuart who have supported me unreservedly and remind me Mum and Dad would’ve been so proud.
My dear friends Kathie Fong-Yoneda and Pamela Wallace whose love and support over the years to get this story told, no matter what format, I appreciate beyond words.
To my friend Harry Blutstein whose interest and writing tips over the years I hope to have taken on board and done you proud.
The Holocaust Museum in Melbourne where Lale took me on several occasions, acting as my ‘living’ tour guide. You opened my eyes to the world Lale and Gita survived.
My sons Ahren and Jared who opened their hearts and minds to Lale and let him into our family life with love and reverence.
My daughter Azure-Dea. Lale met you when you were eighteen, the same age Gita was when he met her. He told me he fell a little bit in love with you on that first day. For the next three years every time I saw him his opening line was, ‘How are you and how is your beautiful daughter?’ Thank you for letting him flirt with you a little and the smile you put on his face.
To my children’s partners – thank you Bronwyn, Rebecca and Evan.
Steve, my darling husband of forty-something years. I recall a time you asked me if you should be jealous of Lale as I was spending so much time with him. Yes and no. You were there for me when I would come home sullen and depressed at having taken on board the horror Lale shared with me. You opened our home to him and let him into our family with honour and respect. I know you will continue this journey by my side.
About the Author
Heather Morris is a native of New Zealand, now resident in Australia. For several years, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, she studied and wrote screenplays, one of which was optioned by an Academy Award-winning screenwriter in the US. In 2003, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who ‘might just have a story worth telling’. The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Their friendship grew and Lale embarked on a journey of self-scrutiny, entrusting the innermost details of his life during the Holocaust to her. Heather originally wrote Lale’s story as a screenplay – which ranked high in international competitions – before reshaping it into her debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Praise for The Tattooist of Auschwitz
‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz has the quality of a dark fairytale. It is both simple and epic, shot through with compassion and love, but inescapably under the shadow of the most devouring monsters our civilisation has known. Everyone should read it.’
‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz is an extraordinary document, coming more than seventy years after the events it describes, and reminding us how many stories will forever remain untold. It reminds us that every one of the unimaginably large number of Holocaust victims was an individual with a unique story… And this story is an extraordinary one, even by the standards of Holocaust stories – by turns moving, confronting and uplifting and, of course, a window on one of the most horrific events in human history. Heather Morris tells Lale’s story with dignity and restraint, never letting her own voice intrude, nor letting the love story overwhelm the greater context of displacement, trauma and survival. This is a story about the extremes of human behaviour existing side by side: calculated brutality alongside impulsive and selfless acts of love. I find it hard to imagine anyone who would not be drawn in, confronted and moved. I would recommend it unreservedly to anyone, whether they’d read a hundred Holocaust stories or none.’
‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a profoundly moving, immense story of loss and courage, exploring the depths of the human heart. Written in unflinchingly spare prose, it will make you cry tears of both outrage and wonder. Morris climbs into the dark miasma of war and emerges with an extraordinary tale of the power of love.’
‘An extraordinary story of a single and singular life and its great love. Heather Morris carefully recreates one man’s journey through one of the world’s worst times and places, as moments of sheer will, ferocious tenacity – even luck and serendipity – transform a miracle from the preserve of hope and daydream into a long and cherished life. Her Lale speaks to one of Viktor Frankl’s clarion ideas: “that the salvation of Man is through love and in love.”’
‘An eloquent and touching account of a truly remarkable story that simply had to be told. An intricate and sensitive portrayal of a brave, tenacious, determined yet caring, romantic, generous, and simply beautiful soul, against a despair-filled, catastrophic environment with scenarios too harsh to even imagine. The story of Gita and Lale’s steadfast and enduring love for each other in one of the most inhumane circumstances known to mankind, alongside the cruel reality of the “choiceless choices” that certain individuals were forced into during those harsh and evil times creates a dramatically vivid picture which captivates, inspires and enriches. A must read.’
‘A powerful and redeeming love story set against a horrific background of unimaginable hate.’