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Under the Pink Triangle: Where forbidden love meets unspeakable evil
Berlin, 1942. Manny Hoffman is desperate to escape the confines of living with his mother at the age of twenty-three.
Rudi Klein is a popular part of Berlin’s underground gay scene, with a plan to fool the Nazis.
When both are arrested and transported to Dachau’s notorious concentration camp, neither expect to find in each other something worth living for. Thrown together by chance, a tender and unforeseen relationship blossoms. In a place of unspeakable evil, can they hold on to their humanity and each other, when every day could be their last?
From new novelist Katie Moore comes a tale of forbidden love in the face of unspeakable evil, that highlights a lesser-known side of the Holocaust and explores the lives, hopes, agonies and deaths of other prisoners. Her debut draws you into the desperate world of concentration camps; whilst reminding us that beauty can be found anywhere and hope contained within the human spirit never dies.
Rudi Klein is a popular part of Berlin’s underground gay scene, with a plan to fool the Nazis.
When both are arrested and transported to Dachau’s notorious concentration camp, neither expect to find in each other something worth living for. Thrown together by chance, a tender and unforeseen relationship blossoms. In a place of unspeakable evil, can they hold on to their humanity and each other, when every day could be their last?
From new novelist Katie Moore comes a tale of forbidden love in the face of unspeakable evil, that highlights a lesser-known side of the Holocaust and explores the lives, hopes, agonies and deaths of other prisoners. Her debut draws you into the desperate world of concentration camps; whilst reminding us that beauty can be found anywhere and hope contained within the human spirit never dies.
422 pages, Paperback
Published September 8, 2025
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11 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 10, 2025
This book is WONDERFUL! Although there are lots of gritty difficult moments, the overwhelming theme throughout the book is of finding hope, beauty and love in even the darkest place. Truly inspirational and made me look at the world around me afresh with wonder.
It is one of those books where you really care about the characters and what happens to them, you think about them when you aren’t reading and you can’t wait to read the next chapter.
The gritty bits are never gratuitous and keep the human suffering in your heart throughout the book - rare skill as often books with such a dark setting would descent into a thoughtless numbers game of deaths. This is so full of tenderness and empathy it takes your breath away over and over again.
I’d recommend buying a copy for a friend at the same time as you get it, as it is one of those books that you will be desperate to discuss with someone as soon as you finish it! A really powerful read.
It is one of those books where you really care about the characters and what happens to them, you think about them when you aren’t reading and you can’t wait to read the next chapter.
The gritty bits are never gratuitous and keep the human suffering in your heart throughout the book - rare skill as often books with such a dark setting would descent into a thoughtless numbers game of deaths. This is so full of tenderness and empathy it takes your breath away over and over again.
I’d recommend buying a copy for a friend at the same time as you get it, as it is one of those books that you will be desperate to discuss with someone as soon as you finish it! A really powerful read.
November 28, 2025
A well written book about the darkest moment in human history. I liked the characters and the way their lives of domesticity abruptly, brutally crashes into the reality of Dachu, followed by the iota of solace they find in each other. For the most part, the horrifying elements of the story – torture, murder, starvation and sexual assault – are delt with tactfully, but there are a few very hard to stomach moments. The book taught me a lot I didn’t know about the Nazi concentration camps, and overall it’ll be a read which stays with me for a while.
My only quibble is that there really wasn’t a sense of narrative through the book. The middle part felt more like scenes which could have been rearranged in any order and still made sense. I just didn’t get hooked on finding out what happened next until the very end.
My only quibble is that there really wasn’t a sense of narrative through the book. The middle part felt more like scenes which could have been rearranged in any order and still made sense. I just didn’t get hooked on finding out what happened next until the very end.
December 23, 2025
A very brutal read in places but done with such deft love and care - certainly never gratuitous but incredibly timely in today's political landscape. I found the pacing to be excellent because of how well it drove home the slide into complete dehumanisation in the camps. Utterly excellent.
September 13, 2025
A brilliant book!
Visceral, haunting, harrowing and yet also hopeful and, above all, a beautiful love story.
Highly recommended.
Visceral, haunting, harrowing and yet also hopeful and, above all, a beautiful love story.
Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews