Lily's Promise

The Sunday Times top 10 bestsellerWith a foreword by King Charles III.'A stunningly moving book about the power of hope and love to overcome the very worst of mankind' – Piers MorganWhen Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert was liberated in 1945, a Jewish-American soldier gave her a banknote on which he’d written ‘Good luck and happiness’. And when her great-grandson, Dov, decided to use social media to track down the family of the GI, 96-year-old Lily found herself making headlines round the world. Lily had promised herself that if she survived Auschwitz she would tell everyone the truth about the camp. Now was her chance.In Lily’s Promise she writes movingly about her happy childhood in Hungary, the death of her mother and two youngest siblings on their arrival at Auschwitz in 1944 and her determination to keep her two other sisters safe. She describes the inhumanity of the camp and the small acts of defiance that gave her strength. From there she and her sisters became slave labour in a munitions factory, and then faced a death march that they barely survived.Lily lost so much, but she built a new life for herself and her family, first in Israel and then in London. It wasn’t easy; the pain of her past was always with her, but this extraordinary woman found the strength to speak out in the hope that such evil would never happen again.'Utterly compelling, heartbreaking, truthful and yet redemptive, a memoir of the Holocaust, a testimony of irrepressible spirit and an unforgettable family chronicle, written in lucid prose by a truly remarkable woman about her life from Hungary to Auschwitz, Israel to London. I couldn't stop reading it.' – Simon Sebag Montefiore

Utterly compelling, heartbreaking, truthful and yet redemptive, a memoir of the Holocaust, a testimony of irrepressible spirit and an unforgettable family chronicle, written in lucid prose by a truly remarkable woman about her life from Hungary to Auschwitz, Israel to London. I couldn't stop reading it., We must never forget the horrors of the Holocaust; Lily is an incredible lady and an inspiration to us all., A stunningly moving book about the power of hope and love to overcome the very worst of mankind. We owe it to every Holocaust victim, and survivor like Lily, to educate new generations about the horrors of that atrocity so it can never be allowed to happen again, Though Lily saw and experienced inhumanity at its lowest ebb, her reaction was not one of bitterness or cynicism, but of hope and compassion. Lily has dedicated her life to sharing her astonishing story so that the world would never again descend into such depths. Yet Lily’s Promise is only half of the battle. It falls to us to heed her words and to internalize and learn from them. This book calls every reader to action. Lily’s message of hope over despair is more necessary today than it has ever been, Lily instantly touches everyone she meets with her immense warmth and caring nature. To use so much of her energy educating others about the darkest time in her life makes her both courageous and admirable - she’s a very special lady!

Lily Ebert lives in London near her large and loving family, which includes thirty-four great-grandchildren. She is a founder member of the Holocaust Survivors Centre and was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Holocaust education. Lily's Promise is her powerful memoir.Dov Forman is Lily’s great-grandson. At the age of sixteen he was separated from her during the Covid pandemic for the first time, and became determined to record her story for posterity.

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