The Ballerina of Auschwitz, Edith Eva Eger
The Ballerina of Auschwitz, Edith Eva Eger
List: $18.99 | Sale: $13.29
Club: $9.49

The Ballerina of Auschwitz
Young Adult Edition of The Choice

Author: Edith Eva Eger

Narrator: Gilli Messer, Tovah Feldshuh

Unabridged: 5 hr 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/01/2024


Synopsis

A Sydney Taylor Award Notable Young Adult Book

In this “luminous” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) young adult edition of the bestselling, award-winning memoir The Choice, Holocaust survivor and renowned psychologist Dr. Edith Eva Eger shares her harrowing experiences and gives readers the gift of hope and strength.

Edie is a talented dancer and a skilled gymnast with hopes of making the Olympic team. Between her rigorous training and her struggle to find her place in a family where she’s the daughter “with brains but no looks,” Edie’s too busy to dwell on the state of the world. But life in Hungary in 1943 is dangerous for a Jewish girl.

Just as Edie falls in love for the first time, Europe collapses into war, and Edie’s family is forced onto a train bound for the Auschwitz concentration camp. Even in those darkest of moments, Edie’s beloved, Eric, kindles hope. “I’ll never forget your eyes,” he tells her through the slats of the cattle car. Auschwitz is horrifying beyond belief, yet through starvation, unthinkable terrors, and daily humiliations like being forced to dance for a Nazi leader, dreams of Eric sustain Edie. Against all odds, Edie and her sister Magda survive, thanks to their sisterhood and sheer grit.

Edie returns home filled with grief and guilt. Survival feels more like a burden than a gift—until Edie recognizes that she has a choice. She can’t change the past, but she can choose how to live and even to love again.

About Edith Eva Eger

Edith Eva Eger is an eminent psychologist and one of the few remaining Holocaust survivors old enough to remember life in the camps. A colleague of Viktor Frankl, Dr. Edith Eger has worked with veterans, military personnel, and victims of physical and mental trauma. She lives in La Jolla, California, and is the author of the bestselling and award-winning books The Choice and The Gift. The Ballerina of Auschwitz, the young adult edition of The Choice, was named a Sydney Taylor Award Notable Young Adult Book. Edie and her daughter, Marianne Engle—a renowned psychologist and food writer who helped develop the recipes in The Gift—encourage you to try the delicious dishes in the book and share your thoughts at LoveEdieandMarianne@Gmail.com.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Darla on September 28, 2024

We can't ever change what's happened to us. We can't alter the past or control what's coming around the next corner. But we can choose how we live now. ~ Dr. Edith Eger (96) Edith Eger's story was first told in The Choice: Embrace the Possible and published in 2017. This new title is a YA version of......more

Goodreads review by Oana on April 22, 2025

Balerina de la Auschwitz este scrisă pe când autoarea avea 96 de ani, la îndemnul nepotului său, dedicată tinerilor, ca un fel de rescriere a Alegerii la o scară mai mică, special pentru cei care nu au trecut încă prin viață. Însă nu știu dacă aș recomanda citirea ei la vârste fragede, pentru că sun......more

Goodreads review by Carolyn on May 09, 2025

The book I’m reading is called “The Ballerina of Auschwitz” by Edith Eger. This is young adult for young readers, last year. The choice and the gift she wrote is for adult readers, years ago. This book, which I simply devoured, is all about survival and hope. At 96, she witnesses everything, includi......more

Goodreads review by andshe.reads on September 15, 2024

I haven't read Edith's original memoir, The Choice, but I've since requested to reserve it at my local library. If this beautiful yet harrowing book is anything to go by, I know I'll enjoy it. When I say 'enjoy it', it leaves me with a pit in my stomach. These aren't the right words to express when......more