Tag: prisoner

What’s Ashley Reading?: The Tower

The Tower by Flora Carr

First line: From far away, she looks like a roosting bird.

Summary: It’s 1567 and a pregnant Mary, Queen of Scots in taken from her palace and imprisoned in the tower of Lochleven Castle. Her captors want her dead but will settle for her abdication. Upon her agreement to the abdication she is allowed the company of her trusted friend, Lady Seton. As the two women along with their serving women, they hatch a plan to escape from the clutches of the Scottish nobles. With their combined love for the exiled queen the women push aside differences in class to work together on their shared goal of survival and escape.

My Thoughts: Over the years I have read several books about Mary, Queen of Scots, many dealing either with her time in France, early time in Scotland and her life as a prisoner of Elizabeth I. However, this is a history I knew very little about. Mary is brought here by the lords of Scotland, as a prisoner and pregnant with twins. While isolated in the tower she miscarries as well as abdicating her throne. This is a major turning point in English and Scottish history.

Lochleven Castle tower

Through all the stories of Mary I have read, I find it hard to decide how I feel about her. She made many mistakes but was also forced by the men around her into some of these decisions. This gave me a little more insight into why she made these choices. As a prisoner she was kept away from her young son, poorly tended during her pregnancy and stripped of her inheritance. I cannot even imagine how depressed and alone she felt at the time. It is easy to see why she decided that abdicating was her only choice. She also had hope that her cousin, Elizabeth I, would help her regain her throne. As we know this wouldn’t happen but it seems likely at the time Mary was shut away.

This story is fairly short but it breaks down the year that Mary and her attendants spent in the tower at Lochleven. They devised a plan to escape which leads to the mad dash to England. I liked learning a bit more about this piece that brings together the other more well-known parts of her history. To end Women’s History Month I would recommend learning more about this tragic queen and the women who protected her in her dark days in the tower.

What’s Ashley Reading?: Cilka’s Journey

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris

First line: Cilka stares at the soldier standing in front of her, part of the army that has entered the camp.

Summary: Sixteen year old Cilka Klein was sent to Auschwitz along with her family. One of the head SS officers of the camp notices her and moves her away from the other women. Over the three years she is kept in barracks 25 until the day the camp is liberated by the Russian forces. Upon their arrival she is arrested and charged with collaborating with the enemy. She is sentenced to fifteen years in a Siberian gulag.

When she arrives at the prison she finds a world that she has unfortunately become very familiar with. The forced labor and brutal conditions of the camp are not new to her. She makes friends with several of her fellow inmates but when she catches the attention of the female doctor her luck begins to change. With her work in the hospital she finds a way to make amends for the guilt about her past and maybe even start to feel love again.

My Thoughts:The Tattooist of Auschwitz was such a heartbreaking story. But I was beyond shocked by the story of Cilka. She was forced into a Russian prison after suffering for years in a concentration camp because she was raped for three years. It makes no sense. The poor girl is stronger than I can imagine I could ever be. I really cared about what happened to Cilka while reading her story. She did so much good in a terrible place. If only there were more people like her.

I never even considered that things like this happened to some of the survivors. It is sad that the “liberators” were nearly as cruel as the Nazis. Her time in the gulag is unbelievable. I know that the author did lots of research and she does a great job of bringing it to life. People need to know these things in order to try and stop them from happening again.

I felt like this was much better put together than the first book. It was not nearly as choppy.

FYI: This is a sequel to The Tattooist of Auschwitz.