What's a yellow star on a jacket? It does not kill or condemn. Let us thank God for being together, in our own house. Mummy pleads, her voice gentle and sad, 'Elli, let's thank God for being alive. I do not leave the house for nearly a week. It means having to hand in all spare clothing.

It means having to wear a yellow star of David sewn onto her jacket. For Elli, this means having to take her brand new birthday bicycle down to the Town Hall to hand over to the German authorities. Slowly, and in calculated detail, the Nazis strip the Jews of all their status in society, and their possessions. The first part of the book deals with the invasion and occupation of Hungary. It can be quite difficult to pick up a book like this and start to read because you fear the nightmares, so I'll try and tell you what to expect. It is a truly shocking read, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't read it. Her story is told in the form of the memoir of Elli Friedmann, who was thirteen years old in March 1944 when the Nazis invaded her homeland, Hungary. It is written by one of the very few who survived a term in the death camp Auschwitz. This is a book for those who really feel they need to know what happened to Jews in Nazi Europe during the Holocaust.