Recommendations based on In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuerby Irene Gut Opdyke

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust

    by Edith Hahn Beer
    An incredible true story of a Jewish woman's courage and determination to survive the Holocaust.

    Edith Hahn was an outspoken young woman studying law in Vienna when the Gestapo forced Edith and her mother into a ghetto, issuing them papers branded with a "J." Soon, Edith was taken away to a ... (Goodreads)

  2. The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom

    by Corrie ten Boom
    A remarkable testament to faith and courage in the face of unfathomable odds and unspeakable horrors.

    The book begins with the ten Boom family celebrating the 100th anniversary of the family business; they sell and repair watches under the family's elderly father, Casper ten Boom . The business takes ... (Wikipedia)

  3. The Bookseller of Kabul

    by Åsne Seierstad
    An intimate look into the lives of an Afghan family, exploring culture and faith.

    In spring 2002, following the fall of the Taliban, Åsne Seierstad spent four months living with a bookseller and his family in Kabul. For more than twenty years Sultan Khan defied the authorities—be ... (Goodreads)

  4. Alicia

    by Alicia Appleman-Jurman
    A memoir of a young Jewish girl's survival during the Holocaust, and her journey to rebuild her life after the war.

    After losing her entire family to the Nazis at age 13, Alicia Appleman-Jurman went on to save the lives of thousands of Jews, offering them her own courage and hope in a time of upheaval and tragedy. ... (Goodreads)

  5. I Have Lived a Thousand Years

    by Livia Bitton-Jackson
    The Holocaust memoir of a teenage girl who survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

    What is death all about? What is life all about? So wonders thirteen-year-old- Elli Friedmann, just one of the many innocent Holocaust victims, as she fights for her life in a concentration camp. It ... (Goodreads)

  6. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

    by Ishmael Beah
    A gripping tale of a child soldier's journey to survive and reclaim his humanity.

    My new friends have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story of my life.,"Why did you leave Sierra Leone?","Because there is a war.","You mean, you saw people running around with guns and ... (Barnes & Noble)

  7. Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

    by Immaculée Ilibagiza
    True story of a woman's faith and resilience in the face of the Rwandan genocide.

    Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family ... (Goodreads)

  8. Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter

    by Adeline Yen Mah
    An autobiography recounting a young woman's struggles with a difficult family life.

    Born in 1937 in a port city a thousand miles north of Shanghai, Adeline Yen Mah was the youngest child of an affluent Chinese family who enjoyed rare privileges during a time of political and ... (Goodreads)

  9. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

    by Audre Lorde
    A powerful autobiographical account exploring themes of gender, race, and sexuality.

    Audre Lorde grows up in Harlem in the 1930s and 1940s, a child of Black West Indian parents. Lorde is legally blind from a very young age, isolating her even further from her surroundings and a ... (Wikipedia)

  10. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers

    by Loung Ung
    An inspiring true story of survival and resilience during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.

    From a childhood survivor of the Cambodian genocide under the regime of Pol Pot, this is a riveting narrative of war crimes and desperate actions, the unnerving strength of a small girl and her ... (Goodreads)

  11. The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence

    by Gavin de Becker
    Examining how fear can be used to protect oneself from violence, and how it is a valuable tool.

    True fear is a gift. Unwarranted fear is a curse. Learn how to tell the difference. A date won't take "no" for an answer. The new nanny gives a mother an uneasy feeling. A stranger in a deserted ... (Goodreads)

  12. Black Like Me

    by John Howard Griffin
    A white journalist darkens his skin and travels through the segregated South, experiencing racism firsthand.

    THE HISTORY-MAKING CLASSIC ABOUT CROSSING THE COLOR LINE IN AMERICA'S SEGREGATED SOUTH,“One of the deepest, most penetrating documents yet set down on the racial question.”—,Atlanta Journal & ... (Barnes & Noble)

  13. Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland

    by Amanda Berry
    True story of a woman taken captive and her struggle to stay alive and be reunited with her family.

    Two women kidnapped by infamous Cleveland school-bus driver Ariel Castro share the stories of their abductions, captivity, and dramatic escape, On May 6, 2013, Amanda Berry made headlines around the ... (Goodreads)

  14. All But My Life: A Memoir

    by Gerda Weissmann Klein
    A gripping account of one woman's survival of the Holocaust and her struggle to reclaim her life.

    All But My Life is the unforgettable story of Gerda Weissmann Klein's six-year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. From her comfortable home in Bielitz (present-day Bielsko) in Poland to her ... (Barnes & Noble)

  15. Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz

    by Olga Lengyel
    A harrowing first-hand account of life and death in Auschwitz, detailing the horrors of the concentration camp and the resilience of the human spirit.

    Olga Lengyel tells, frankly and without compromise, one of the most horrifying stories of all time. This true, documented chronicle is the intimate, day-to-day record of a beautiful woman who ... (Goodreads)

  16. End of the Spear

    by Steve Saint
    A story of forgiveness and redemption, as a young missionary seeks to understand the tribe that killed his father.

    When I was a boy, I cried. But now I see it well. Steve Saint was only five years old when his father was brutally killed by Waodani warriors, men from the most savage culture ever known. But in a ... (Goodreads)

  17. Schindler's List

    by Thomas Keneally
    Story of a German businessman who saved hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust.

    This novel tells the story of Oskar Schindler , self-made entrepreneur and, bon viveur, who almost by default found himself saving Polish Jews from the Nazi death machine. Based on numerous ... (Wikipedia)

  18. The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love

    by Kristin Kimball
    A woman's journey of self-discovery, finding purpose and love in the farming life.

    From a “graceful, luminous writer with an eye for detail” (,Minneapolis Star Tribune,), this riveting memoir explores a year on a sustainable farm. When Kristin Kimball left New York City to ... (Barnes & Noble)

  19. Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account

    by Miklós Nyiszli
    An account of the horrors of Auschwitz, as experienced by a Jewish prisoner-doctor.

    When the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944, they sent virtually the entire Jewish population to Auschwitz. A Jew and a medical doctor, the prisoner Dr. Miklos Nyiszli was spared death for a grimmer fate: ... (Goodreads)

  20. Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography

    by Mark Mathabane
    A memoir of growing up black in apartheid South Africa, detailing the author's journey to overcome poverty and oppression through education and tennis.

    At his mother's insistence, Mathabane starts school and learns to love it, rising to the top of his class in spite of frequent punishments due to his family's late payments for school fees and ... (Wikipedia)

  21. 'Tis

    by Frank McCourt
    Sequel to Angela's Ashes, following Frank McCourt's journey to America and his struggles to adapt to a new life.

    Dopo aver raccontato, nelle "Ceneri di Angela", la sua infanzia "infelice, irlandese e cattolica" come il più atroce e ilare dei mondi possibili, McCourt ci trasporta qui nell'America del secondo ... (Goodreads)

  22. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

    by Christopher R. Browning
    A study of how ordinary men became willing participants in the Holocaust, shedding light on the nature of genocide and human behavior.

    Christopher R. Browning’s shocking account of how a unit of average middle-aged Germans became the cold-blooded murderers of tens of thousands of Jews—now with a new afterword and additional ... (Goodreads)

  23. Three Weeks With My Brother

    by Nicholas Sparks
    Memoir of two brothers on a trip around the world, reflecting on their past and strengthening their bond.

    The day the brochure came was a typical one. With a wife and five small children, a hectic schedule, and a new book due to his publishers, Nicholas Sparks was busy with his usual routine. The ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Cross and the Switchblade

    by David Wilkerson
    A true story of a small-town pastor's mission to help gang members and drug addicts in New York City.

    A young preacher from the Pennsylvania hills comes to New York City and influences troubled teenagers with his inspirational message. ... (Goodreads)

  25. A Girl Named Zippy

    by Haven Kimmel
    A charming account of growing up in rural Indiana, exploring the joys and hardships of life.

    When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965 in Mooreland, Indiana, it was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was ... (Goodreads)

  26. Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail

    by Malika Oufkir
    An autobiographical account of a family's struggle to survive two decades in a Moroccan prison camp.

    A gripping memoir that reads like a political thriller–the story of Malika Oufkir's turbulent and remarkable life. Born in 1953, Malika Oufkir was the eldest daughter of General Oufkir, the King of ... (Goodreads)

  27. Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family

    by Miep Gies
    The brave and moving story of the woman who helped to save Anne Frank's family during the Holocaust.

    The reminiscences of Miep Gies, the woman who hid the Frank family in Amsterdam during the Second World War, presents a vivid story of life under Nazi occupation. ... (Goodreads)

  28. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

    by Maya Angelou
    Autobiographical account of a Black woman's journey to find her identity in a prejudiced society.

    Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters. Here is a book as ... (Goodreads)

  29. Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together

    by Ron Hall
    A story of unlikely friendship and redemption, set in the backdrop of racial and economic divides.

    A dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery. An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel. A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream. A story so ... (Goodreads)

  30. A Stolen Life

    by Jaycee Dugard
    A woman's harrowing account of being kidnapped and held captive for 18 years.

    On 10 June 1991, eleven-year-old Jaycee Dugard was abducted from a school bus stop within sight of her home in Tahoe, California. It was the last her family and friends saw of her for over eighteen ... (Goodreads)