
The Botanist's Tracks
Beyond the Tracks, Book 3
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
John Maddaloni
-
By:
-
Michael Reit
About this listen
Felcia Hodaks's vital botanical skills are the only thing keeping her away from the gas chambers.
Against the backdrop of Auschwitz-Birkenau's ever-present brutality, Felcia tends to the plants needed for one of the Reich's most ambitious experiments—one that could tip the war in favor of the Nazis.
When Sabina Kupka discovers the horrifying nature of her father's job at a coal mine run by Nazis, she agrees to work with an increasingly defiant resistance. What starts small but significant soon propels her into a frontline role—dangerous enough to cost her her life if caught.
Soon, both women are engaged in a daring plan to arm the prisoners of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The Botanist's Tracks is the third installment in the Beyond the Tracks series and takes readers to the Nazi agricultural camp of Rajsko, a ten-minute ride from Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Based on actual events, The Botanist's Tracks is the first-ever book set primarily in Rajsko and shows the incredible ingenuity of prisoners in finding ways to rise against impossible odds.
©2024 Michael Reit (P)2024 Michael ReitListeners also enjoyed...
-
Beyond the Tracks
- A WW2 Novel Based on Harrowing True Events
- By: Michael Reit
- Narrated by: Mike Paul
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Jewish families of Berlin start disappearing in nightly raids, 21-year-old Jacob Kagan knows it’s only a matter of time before the trucks come for him. Along with his family and best friend, he flees the country he’s always called home to find shelter in a Dutch refugee camp. Before long, the Netherlands falls to the Nazi war machine - Jacob’s new home is transformed into a transit camp with weekly trains bound for the horrors of the Eastern concentration camps.
-
-
Beyond
- By Ellen, Ontario, Canada on 01-16-22
By: Michael Reit
-
Orphans of War
- Orphans of War, Book 1
- By: Michael Reit
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amsterdam, 1941. German forces have invaded Amsterdam. As the tension in the city increases, the Dutch Resistance is born. Tormented by what is happening in his city, Christiaan joins the Resistance. He risks everything to shield the oppressed and fight for the freedom of his beloved nation. His brother—Floris—is ruthless and driven to succeed. Promoted to the Bureau of Jewish Affairs, he becomes instrumental in hunting Jews to transport them to the Nazi death camps.
-
-
It was exciting
- By Whitey12 on 03-22-25
By: Michael Reit
-
Five Chimneys
- A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz
- By: Olga Lengyel
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wydra
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Olga Lengyel tells, frankly and without compromise, one of the most horrifying stories of all time. This true, documented chronicle is the intimate, day-to-day record of a beautiful woman who survived the nightmare of Auschwitz and Birchenau. This book is a necessary reminder of one of the ugliest chapters in the history of human civilization.
-
-
Five Chimneys
- By Grannie Annie on 04-03-19
By: Olga Lengyel
-
Warsaw Fury
- By: Michael Reit
- Narrated by: Karen Gundersen
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Natan Borkowski has it all. In line to take over the successful family business, his future is set. Julia Horowitz lives in poverty. The daughter of a shoemaker, she dreams of a different life—a different world. Everything changes when Hitler’s armies invade Poland. Natan’s future is ripped away by the flick of a switch of a Luftwaffe pilot. When the smoke clears, Julia and her family find themselves locked within the walls of the newly-formed Jewish ghetto.
-
-
SO MANY STORIES OF BRAVERY AND COURAGE DURING WWII FROM THE POLISH…
- By Marie G. on 06-13-24
By: Michael Reit
-
The Forgotten Names
- A Tale of Heroism and Reclaiming Identity in Nazi-Occupied France
- By: Mario Escobar
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Five years after the highly publicized trial of Klaus Barbie, the “Butcher of Lyon,” law student Valérie Portheret began her doctoral research into the 108 children who disappeared from Vénissieux fifty years earlier, children who somehow managed to escape deportation and certain death in the German concentration camps. She soon discovers that their rescue was no unexplainable miracle.
-
-
Heartbreaking and Heartwarming
- By K. on 10-11-24
By: Mario Escobar
-
The Daughter of Auschwitz
- My Story of Resilience, Survival and Hope
- By: Tova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A powerful memoir by one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, Tova Friedman, following her childhood growing up during the Holocaust and surviving a string of near-death experiences in a Jewish ghetto, a Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz.
-
-
Very interesting and well told
- By Tracy F. on 03-31-23
By: Tova Friedman, and others
-
Beyond the Tracks
- A WW2 Novel Based on Harrowing True Events
- By: Michael Reit
- Narrated by: Mike Paul
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Jewish families of Berlin start disappearing in nightly raids, 21-year-old Jacob Kagan knows it’s only a matter of time before the trucks come for him. Along with his family and best friend, he flees the country he’s always called home to find shelter in a Dutch refugee camp. Before long, the Netherlands falls to the Nazi war machine - Jacob’s new home is transformed into a transit camp with weekly trains bound for the horrors of the Eastern concentration camps.
-
-
Beyond
- By Ellen, Ontario, Canada on 01-16-22
By: Michael Reit
-
Orphans of War
- Orphans of War, Book 1
- By: Michael Reit
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amsterdam, 1941. German forces have invaded Amsterdam. As the tension in the city increases, the Dutch Resistance is born. Tormented by what is happening in his city, Christiaan joins the Resistance. He risks everything to shield the oppressed and fight for the freedom of his beloved nation. His brother—Floris—is ruthless and driven to succeed. Promoted to the Bureau of Jewish Affairs, he becomes instrumental in hunting Jews to transport them to the Nazi death camps.
-
-
It was exciting
- By Whitey12 on 03-22-25
By: Michael Reit
-
Five Chimneys
- A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz
- By: Olga Lengyel
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wydra
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Olga Lengyel tells, frankly and without compromise, one of the most horrifying stories of all time. This true, documented chronicle is the intimate, day-to-day record of a beautiful woman who survived the nightmare of Auschwitz and Birchenau. This book is a necessary reminder of one of the ugliest chapters in the history of human civilization.
-
-
Five Chimneys
- By Grannie Annie on 04-03-19
By: Olga Lengyel
-
Warsaw Fury
- By: Michael Reit
- Narrated by: Karen Gundersen
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Natan Borkowski has it all. In line to take over the successful family business, his future is set. Julia Horowitz lives in poverty. The daughter of a shoemaker, she dreams of a different life—a different world. Everything changes when Hitler’s armies invade Poland. Natan’s future is ripped away by the flick of a switch of a Luftwaffe pilot. When the smoke clears, Julia and her family find themselves locked within the walls of the newly-formed Jewish ghetto.
-
-
SO MANY STORIES OF BRAVERY AND COURAGE DURING WWII FROM THE POLISH…
- By Marie G. on 06-13-24
By: Michael Reit
-
The Forgotten Names
- A Tale of Heroism and Reclaiming Identity in Nazi-Occupied France
- By: Mario Escobar
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Five years after the highly publicized trial of Klaus Barbie, the “Butcher of Lyon,” law student Valérie Portheret began her doctoral research into the 108 children who disappeared from Vénissieux fifty years earlier, children who somehow managed to escape deportation and certain death in the German concentration camps. She soon discovers that their rescue was no unexplainable miracle.
-
-
Heartbreaking and Heartwarming
- By K. on 10-11-24
By: Mario Escobar
-
The Daughter of Auschwitz
- My Story of Resilience, Survival and Hope
- By: Tova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A powerful memoir by one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, Tova Friedman, following her childhood growing up during the Holocaust and surviving a string of near-death experiences in a Jewish ghetto, a Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz.
-
-
Very interesting and well told
- By Tracy F. on 03-31-23
By: Tova Friedman, and others
-
The Redhead of Auschwitz
- A True Story
- By: Nechama Birnbaum
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosie was always told her red hair was a curse, but she never believed it. She often dreamed what it would look like under a white veil with the man of her dreams by her side. However, her life takes a harrowing turn in 1944 when she is forced out of her home and sent to the most gruesome of places: Auschwitz. Upon arrival, Rosie’s head is shaved and along with the loss of her beautiful hair, she loses the life she once cherished.
-
-
It’s so real…
- By Diane Findley on 07-02-22
By: Nechama Birnbaum
-
The Survivor
- How I Made it Through Six Concentration Camps and Became a Nazi Hunter
- By: Josef Lewkowicz
- Narrated by: Price Waldman
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Nazi forces entered Kraków, Poland in 1939, unexpected and unresisted, Josef Lewkowicz's life became a nightmare overnight as he and his family were rounded up and sent to concentration camps across German-occupied territory. It wasn't long before Josef found himself face-to-face with SS kommandant Amon Goeth, whose brutality was made infamous by the film Schindler's List. As Josef struggled to survive the violence, horror, and degradations of one prison camp after another—he was kept alive only by his faith and his profound sense of justice.
-
-
So much history
- By mrtflowers on 04-29-25
By: Josef Lewkowicz
-
My Name Is Selma
- The Remarkable Memoir of a Jewish Resistance Fighter and Ravensbrück Survivor
- By: Selma van de Perre
- Narrated by: Rachel Bavidge
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Selma van de Perre was 17 when World War II began. Until then, being Jewish in the Netherlands had not been an issue. But by 1941 it had become a matter of life or death. On several occasions, Selma barely avoided being rounded up by the Nazis. While her father was summoned to a work camp and eventually hospitalized in a Dutch transition camp, her mother and sister went into hiding - until they were betrayed in June 1943 and sent to Auschwitz.
-
-
We need to remember
- By Jeffrey L. Hall on 10-04-21
-
Lovers in Auschwitz
- A True Story
- By: Keren Blankfeld
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren, Keren Blankfeld
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Zippi Spitzer and David Wisnia were captivated by each other from the moment they first exchanged glances across the work floor. It was the beginning of a love story that could have happened anywhere. Except for one difference: this romance was unfolding in history’s most notorious death camp, between two young prisoners whose budding intimacy risked dooming them if they were caught.
-
-
How I was able to walk through the concentration camp, as I was listening, and imagining the words of the author.
- By Lori Messmer on 02-27-24
By: Keren Blankfeld
-
Not in America
- Jewish Family Saga, Book 1
- By: Roberta Kagan
- Narrated by: Kelli Tager
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a small town in upstate New York in 1928, four-year-old Evelyn Wilson goes missing. Instantly, old prejudices claw to the surface. As a frenzy of panic and bloodlust overwhelms all reason, the community turns on the Schatzman family. A terrible witch hunt follows. The Schatzmans' young son is accused of horrifying crimes. As their life in America falls apart, leaving nothing but anguish and devastation, some of the Schatzmans decide to return home to Berlin. But Germany in the 1930s is no safe harbor.
By: Roberta Kagan
-
The Children's Dream
- Auschwitz Twins, Book 1
- By: Roberta Kagan
- Narrated by: Shaina Summerville
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Naomi's daughter, Perle, starts to have nightmares about smokestacks and creepy doctors, Naomi is struck with terror—the terror of a mother who fears her daughter is in mortal danger. Naomi believes dreams are glimpses into the future. She, too, has had dreams of foreign soldiers with a strange flag invading her tiny village. She knows in her heart that evil is brewing.
-
-
The whole book
- By Meredythe on 01-16-25
By: Roberta Kagan
-
Mistress of Life and Death
- The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau
- By: Susan J. Eischeid
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Lagelee
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time of her execution at thirty-six, Maria Mandl had achieved the highest rank possible for a woman in the Third Reich. As Head Overseer of the women's camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, she was personally responsible for the murders of thousands. In this riveting biography, Susan J. Eischeid explores how Maria Mandl, regarded locally as "a nice girl from a good family," came to embody the very worst of humanity.
-
-
How we are all capable of evil
- By Michael V McKenney on 05-02-25
-
When the World Went Silent
- By: Ellie Midwood
- Narrated by: Antonia Whillans
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1942. "All I know is we will survive this together," he says before kissing the tears away from my cheeks. But I know if the Nazis discover what we’ve done, how we’ve conspired against them, we will die together. Deaf since the age of five, Mina has had to fight for everything she has, including her place at an Austrian university to study physics. She has never felt accepted—until she meets fellow student Siggy, and her heart stops at the kindness in his bright blue eyes.
-
-
True to history but also didn’t make me want to end things after
- By KrisAlaina on 03-30-25
By: Ellie Midwood
-
I Have to Save Them
- By: Ellie Midwood
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Auschwitz, 1942: Her entire body trembles as she stands in the infirmary and realises the horrifying truth. She’s a nurse, but instead of saving her fellow inmates, she’s about to be ordered to kill them… Surrounded by thick fog from the nearby forest, Orli stumbles from the cattle truck onto the frostbitten grounds of Auschwitz. Betrayed by her own husband for being a German resistance fighter, she has no one left in the world, and this is now her home.
-
-
Fantastic story.
- By Vimala McClure on 02-27-25
By: Ellie Midwood
-
Inside the Gas Chambers
- Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz
- By: Shlomo Venezia
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Slomo Venezia was born into a poor Jewish-Italian community living in Thessaloniki, Greece. At first, the occupying Italians protected his family; but when the Germans invaded, the Venezias were deported to Auschwitz. His mother and sisters disappeared on arrival, and he learned, at first with disbelief, that they had almost certainly been gassed. Given the chance to earn a little extra bread, he agreed to become a 'Sonderkommando', without realizing what this entailed.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Rodney on 03-14-23
By: Shlomo Venezia
-
Last Stop Auschwitz
- My Story of Survival from Within the Camp
- By: Eddy de Wind
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in the camp itself in the weeks following the Red Army's liberation of the camp, Last Stop Auschwitz is the raw, true account of Eddy's experiences at Auschwitz. In stunningly poetic prose, he provides unparalleled access to the horrors he faced in the concentration camp. This poignant memoir is at once a moving love story, a detailed portrayal of the atrocities of Auschwitz, and an intelligent consideration of the kind of behavior - both good and evil - people are capable of.
-
-
wow
- By Ann on 02-08-20
By: Eddy de Wind
-
Cold Crematorium
- Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz
- By: József Debreczeni, Paul Olchváry - translator, Jonathan Freedland
- Narrated by: Laurence Dobiesz
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
József Debreczeni, a prolific Hungarian-language journalist and poet, arrived in Auschwitz in 1944; had he been selected to go “left,” his life expectancy would have been approximately forty-five minutes. One of the “lucky” ones, he was sent to the “right,” which led to twelve horrifying months of incarceration and slave labor in a series of camps, ending in the “Cold Crematorium”—the so-called hospital of the forced labor camp Dörnhau, where prisoners too weak to work awaited execution.
-
-
Learned so much more about the Holocaust
- By Jerseygirl on 02-03-24
By: József Debreczeni, and others
What listeners say about The Botanist's Tracks
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JustineFI
- 01-27-25
Great story
Loved this book. Great history lesson but also some fiction in it as well. Listened with my son in the car and it kept his interest as well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-15-25
friendship
Held my attention from beginning to end, have read 6 of his books and enjoyed them all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 03-29-25
Well written characters that you can’t help but love!
The author does a superb job painting a vivid picture of what it must have been like to live near Auschwitz and feel so powerless to help while having to stand witness to such atrocities. Excellent storytelling to keep the past alive.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jennifer deneault
- 10-09-24
great depiction
this story was a little harder to follow than the previous one but still excellent
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sandra R. Chesnut
- 12-12-24
Great Listen
Enjoyed everything about this book except that some of the descriptions were hard to listen to.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- gloria sutton
- 06-17-24
Great incorporation of truth and fiction
Great incorporation of history and fiction. Gives a good sense of what was going on in past.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Terri Burley
- 11-11-24
The Reader's British Accent
I felt that the British accent of the reader for the characters seemed a bit off since the main characters were from Berlin, Germany. There was no inference to them being from Great Britain.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lee Ann Williamson
- 02-28-25
The detail of the research camp and its overlap with Auschwitz Birkenau was fascinating.
I’ve read many Michael REIT books and enjoy them all thoroughly. Congrats on the readers chosen! They can make or break a book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Peg
- 06-18-24
History made alive
I saw these books and have had friends and others that survived but there 3 books took the events and gave them who they were like not just faces and shoes and that is what today we need to make human connection and as Such good research
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JULIE SANFORD
- 07-09-24
Love the Tracks continuation
As with all of Michael Reit’s books, he tells a compelling story which captures brutality and humanity
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!