Book lovers, alert!

Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, will appear at the Jewish Literary Festival in Cape Town on the 20th of May.

Since her novel debuted in January 2018, it has topped bestseller lists around the world, and remains a very popular title in South Africa, currently hanging just inside the top twenty books sold each month, despite being almost eighteen months old.

Morris will be in conversation with Cape Talk’s Pippa Green: click here to reserve your seat (hurry – tickets will go fast).

Morris’s book tells the story of Lale Sokolov, sent to the Auschwitz death camp from Slovakia, where he had the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival: literally scratching their numbers into their arms. He fell in love with one of the people he tattooed, Gita, who later became his wife.

While the novel is based on a true story – the two survived Auschwitz and made their way to Australia, where Morris first came across Lale’s story – it has been criticised for a raft of historical inaccuracies. The criticism hasn’t hindered its status as a juggernaut bestseller, however, and a sequel, centred on Cilka Klein, the teenage girl who saved Lale’s life, is planned for October this year.

If you miss Morris in Cape Town, she’ll also be appearing earlier in the week at the Franshhoek Literary Festival. ML

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