Impossible Escape, Steve Sheinkin
Impossible Escape, Steve Sheinkin
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Impossible Escape
A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe

Author: Steve Sheinkin

Narrator: Rob Shapiro

Unabridged: 5 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/03/2023


Synopsis

From three-time National Book Award finalist and Newbery Honor author Steve Sheinkin, a true story of two Jewish teenagers racing against time during the Holocaust―one in hiding in Hungary, and the other in Auschwitz, plotting escape.

It is 1944. A teenager named Rudolf (Rudi) Vrba has made up his mind. After barely surviving nearly two years in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, he knows he must escape. Even if death is more likely.

Rudi has learned the terrible secret hidden behind the heavily guarded fences of concentration camps across Nazi-occupied Europe: the methodical mass killing of Jewish prisoners. As trains full of people arrive daily, Rudi knows that the murders won’t stop until he reveals the truth to the world―and that each day that passes means more lives are lost.

Lives like Rudi’s schoolmate Gerta Sidonová. Gerta’s family fled from Slovakia to Hungary, where they live under assumed names to hide their Jewish identity. But Hungary is beginning to cave under pressure from German Nazis. Her chances of survival become slimmer by the day.

The clock is ticking. As Gerta inches closer to capture, Rudi and his friend Alfred Wetzler begin their crucial steps towards an impossible escape.

This is the true story of one of the most famous whistleblowers in the world, and how his death-defying escape helped save over 100,000 lives.

About The Author

Steve Sheinkin is an acclaimed author whose accolades include a Newbery Honor, three Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards, a Sibert Medal and honor, and three National Book Award finalist honors. Sheinkin lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, with his wife and two children. stevesheinkin.com


Reviews

Goodreads review by ♥Milica♥ on December 11, 2023

Nonfiction that reads (and looks, by the cover) like fiction. I'd recommend this to younger readers in the YA range, but also to anyone who feels like picking it up as well. You won't be able to put it down, even as you're crying due to what's being described. It's written in a very accessible way, i......more

Goodreads review by DaNae on October 04, 2023

This was riveting, and scalding, Sheinkin didn’t shy away from the hard stuff, but did manage to put it in a context assessable to young readers. I have come to the decision that this will be last concentration camp book I will read. I just don’t have the armor for them anymore.......more

Goodreads review by Katie on February 22, 2025

4 Stars! Impossible Escape is a young adult non-fiction book about Rudi Vrba who was a Holocaust survivor and escaped Auschwitz concentration camp. There are hundreds of non-fiction books out there about the Holocaust, but not very many are written this well for young readers. The book mostly follow......more

Goodreads review by Mary on June 25, 2024

RFAL 24-25 Quick read. The truth is hard to read....amazing survival.......more

Goodreads review by LizardsareDinosaurs on July 26, 2023

Before I picked up this book if you'd told me I'd be unable to put down a book set in Auschwitz, I might be a bit skeptical. While I've seen documentaries and had good college history professors, I'm also wary of the "Holocaust fiction genre" because it just seems... weirdly romanticizing. :/ Fortuna......more