“A Long Way Home” is the last book in Mark DeMeza’s enthralling Rachael Kisch Trilogy and the second one I have had the pleasure to read, having been given an advanced reader’s digital copy by NetGalley. Although this book, like its predecessor, can be read on its own, it was nice to have read “The Heroine of Auschwitz” prior. Mr. DeMeza does a nice job in the first few chapters reacquainting the reader with, or introducing new readers to, Auschwitz’s heroine Rachael, and reminding returning readers of Rachael’s beloved Ludwig and his nemesis SS officer Moll. Shortly thereafter, Rachael’s good friend from Auschwitz, Zuzana, becomes integral to the third book, as does Rachael’s search for her young brother Hannes. My review of this book is completely voluntary.
This aspect of Rachael’s story details the horrors imposed upon the prisoners forced to leave the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp network in the last days of World War II as the Allies were within reach of liberating it and endure grueling days of travel during the dead of winter in inhumane conditions by train and on foot to reach even further unimaginable conditions awaiting them at the Dachau network of concentration camps. Of approximately 56,000 prisoners who endured this experience, it’s estimated that 15,000 died en route, and while the main camp at Dachau was meant to hold 6,000 prisoners, there were well over five times as many by the time it was liberated on April 29, 1945. Between January and April 29, over 7,000 prisoners died from illness and starvation and another 2,000 died soon after liberation.
Just as in “The Heroine of Auschwitz” Mr. DeMeza’s writing in “A Long Way Home” is superb! The prose is propulsive and compelling; Rachael’s heart wrenching story is captivating from its first page to its last. There literally is never a dull moment to be found between the covers of this book, and Mr. DeMeza never shies away from describing the barbarity and depravity of the Nazi killing machine and the attitudes of the people who carried out the atrocities, from glee to utter indifference.