by Zdena Berger

Cover art by Charlotte Salomon

With a new afterword by the author

Tell Me Another Morning is an autobiographical novel that depicts the experience of Tania, a 14 year-old living an "ordinary" life in Prague until she is taken with her family to the Nazi concentration camps. Through Tania's eyes, Berger captures the claustrophobic uncertainty of the imprisonment, the powerlessness, and the systematic degradation imposed by the Nazis. Berger deftly weaves together Tania's teenaged concerns with the extremity of life in the camps: her brother's early murder; the friends who help her survive; her mother's decision to stay and die with her father rather than be transported with Tania to another concentration camp; her tentative and, at times, frightening relationships with young men and the guards.

As in the work of Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, and Imre Kertesz, Zdena Berger captures both the horrifying realities of the Jewish experience during World War II, while illuminating the small moments that enabled hope and survival under conditions of extreme violence and humiliation. With spare and breathtaking prose, Tell Me Another Morning offers a vision that is indelible in its poignancy, its warning, and its beauty.

Interview with Zdena Berger author of Tell Me Another Morning.

Zdena Berger speaks about Tell Me Another Morning and her personal experiences coming of age in the concentration camps, Sunday Salon, KPFA 94.1 fm (mp3).

A New England Children's Bookselling Advisory Council Top 10 Title For 2007!

"As the three friends’ journey into darkness progresses, Tania’s language grows pure and strong in the best style of Hemingway…Tell Me Another Morning is luminous yet modest, rooted in the last century's worst reality, yet without rancor. Who could make up such miracles?"
— The Los Angeles Times (June 18, 2007)  Read the full article.

"A rediscovered masterpiece of Holocaust literature, first published in 1961 and now lovingly, and vigorously, resurrected. Anne Frank died in the camps, of typhus; Zdena Berger, a Czech girl of about the same age, somehow survived. And, with Tell Me Another Morning, triumphed. Read, breathe, recover, then place on the shelf with Frank, Levi, Wiesel."
— The San Diego Union-Tribune (June 10, 2007)  Read the full article.

"An immediate and moving history of women’s lives together under Nazi control. …Now, in an era where there are fewer and fewer survivors to tell their story, Zdena Berger’s autobiographical novel is an important testament to both the brutality of Nazi fascism and the tenacity of the human spirit to overcome."
— ForeWord Magazine (May/June 2007)  Read the full article.

"This haunting autobiographical novel retraces Zdena Berger’s experiences in Terezin, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen…. Berger’s heart-wrenching novel is an early eyewitness account of the Holocaust, and this welcome reissue deserves a wide audience, particularly in high school and college curriculums."
— Publishers Weekly (March 26, 2007)  Read the full article.

"I read this little book over 40 years ago, and I thought it was wonderful then. After re-reading it, I have come to the conclusion that it is a classic. I love this book from beginning to end. It is a classic, and I hope it never goes out of print ever again."
— Ernest J. Gaines (April 2007), Author of The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman and A Lesson Before Dying

"How do we understand it—the men in green who destroy everything that once meant family, community, education, love? This young girl’s journey through the demonic madness of then, is much needed now—as men in green occupy and destroy our understanding about what is just, decent, human. Written from a poet’s heart across all divides, Tell Me Another Morning is a profound and lyrical reflection upon agony, survival, healing, and hope."
— Blanche Wiesen Cook, Author of Eleanor Roosevelt, vols. 1 & 2 (vol. 3 forthcoming)

"Words for the unimaginable. Clear-eyed, strong, terrifying, and finally, somehow, hopeful."
— Nicole Krauss, The History Of Love: A Novel

Facing History and Ourselves highly recommends Tell Me Another Morning for use in high-school classes teaching the Holocaust.

About.com is featuring Lisa Katz's rave review of Tell Me Another Morning, complete with study guide.

A book-group reader's guide and a study guide for college and secondary-school teachers will be available on the Paris Press website soon!