Review: The Red Ribbon

When we meet Ella, she is running to what would appear to be a job interview. But this is no ordinary competition for a cushy job as a seamstress - this is life and death. Because Ella is in a place she calls Birchwood, but we know it as Auschwitz-Birkenau. To gain a position at the grandly named Upper Tailoring Studio, means a chance to survive.

Lucy Adlington has told a familiar story from a totally different perspective. Before reading this novel I didn’t know that Auschwitz had a sewing workshop. Adlington doesn’t shy away from the horrors that Ella experiences, but the story is told with honesty and compassion. Ella’s friendship with Rose is especially moving and engaging.

This is a story about intolerance. As Ella says:
“I hated the star. I hated all the badges, and all the Lists too. I just hated the way some people had to shove others into a box with a label and say, You’re different. Once you’re labelled ‘different’, people can treat you as if you don’t matter. Which is stupid. I wasn’t a badge or a number. I was Ella!"

It’s sad to say that this message still needs to be voiced loud and clear. If only we could learn from the past.

Readers who enjoyed The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, I am David and The Silver Sword, will find this novel thoroughly readable and engrossing. Highly recommended.

• Review
• Lucy Adlington