by Gwen Strauss
First published 2025
In 1940, Milena Jesenska arrives at Ravensbrück concentration camp, the only facility built specifically for women. A Czech journalist who translated Kafka's work and sheltered Jewish refugees in occupied Prague, she meets German prisoner Margarete Buber-Neumann. Margarete has endured her own journey through hell. After marrying into the family of philosopher Martin Buber, she followed Communist lover Heinz Neumann to Moscow, where Stalin's purges claimed his life and sent her to the gulag. Two years later, Stalin traded her to Hitler. Despite the deadly risks, Milena and Margarete fall in love inside the camp walls. Their bond becomes their lifeline in a place designed to destroy women's spirits. After liberation, survivors remain silent about lesbian relationships, erasing their story from official accounts. Margarete later reflects that meeting Milena made her grateful for Ravensbrück itself. This novel recovers what history buried and celebrates two women who refused to surrender their humanity.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, 20th-century, biography-memoir, lgbt
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Ravensbrück, Prague, Moscow
Period: 1940
291 pages · Kindle Edition · St. Martin's Press
Content warnings: abuse, death, violence