Transcending Darkness

A Girl’s Journey Out of the Holocaust (Modern Jewish History)

By: Estelle Glaser Laughlin

Narrated by: Laura Schreiber

“Please, Mama, I don’t want to live like this,” pleaded twelve-year-old Estelle Glaser’s older sister as they watched the bodies of friends dangle from the gibbet in the center of the appelplatz of the Madjanek concentration camp. “I cannot take the indignities and brutalities. Let’s step forward and make them kill us now.”

But Estelle’s mother fiercely responded to her two daughters: "No! Life is sacred. It is noble to fight to stay alive."

Their mother’s indomitable will was a major factor in the trio’s survival in the face of brutal odds. But Estelle recognized other heroes in the ghetto and camps as well, righteous individuals who stood out like beacons and kept their spirits alive. Their father was one, as were hungry teachers in dim, cold rooms who risked their lives to secretly teach imprisoned children. Estelle herself learned to draw on a joyful past, and to bring her own light into the void.

Estelle’s memoir, published sixty-four years after her liberation from the Nazis, is a narrative of fear and hope and resiliency. While it is a harrowing tale of destruction and loss, it is also a story of the goodness that still exists in a dark world, of survival and renewal.

The book is published by Texas Tech University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2012 Estelle Glaser Laughlin (P)2023 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Told in colorful prose and with powerful detail, this intensely personal Holocaust story brings history to life in the way only a first-person account can." (Jewish Book Council)

heart wrenching

Amazing read! I couldn’t put the book down. In depth account of stories experiences from ghetto to concentration camps to adventures of liberation. A must read!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

A Must Read/Listen

Estelle is a Holocaust survivor and this is her story. She was just a small girl when her family was taken to the camps. In her story she tells all, good, bad and very, very ugly. This book touched my heart in so many ways. Reading what loving parents sacrifice to keep their child alive. There were many times it was hard to listen to and yes, it did make me cry. I will never be able to wrap my head around the cruelty and pure hate shown to others just because of religion, color, whatever. These Nazi's were monsters! Yet through it all a little girl endures and becomes a survivor. Estelle also teaches us what real forgiveness looks like. Absolutely wonderful read that must be read.

I received a free copy of this audiobook via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.