The Premise
The book I read was called Torn Thread by Anne Isaacs. It is a nonfiction book about two
sisters, Eva and Rachel. The story takes place in 1943 in Bedzin and then in the Nazi work camp of
Parschnitz. In the beginning, Eva, her older sister, Rachel, and their father moved into an attic in the Jewish ghetto after being forced to leave their home. As the story continues, Rachel is taken by Nazi soldiers. Soon after, Eva and her father find out that Rachel was sent to Parschnitz in Czechoslovakia. Her father arranged Eva to join Rachel at the camp.
Significant Passage
"All across the room girls moaned, coughed, muttered, or cried in their sleep. Next to her Rachel wheezed while she slept, then suddenly broke into a cough that sounded as if it would tear her lungs from her chest. It didn't last long, and afterward Rachel began to breath more easily, but even so Eva remained restless.
Last week Rachel fainted at work; without warning, in the middle of the day. Instead of Rachel, another girl had come to collect the bobbins that afternoon and had stopped by Eva's machine to tell her. Rachel was all right, the girl had said; they had revived her quickly by throwing water on her from the washing troughs." (Isaccs 120)
That passage showed that many people in the camp were sick, including Rachel. Also, if you were not strong enough or were sick, you still had to do your work. Most times in the book, Eva acts like the older sister to Rachel even though she isn't because Eva does more work to get food and clothing for herself and for Rachel. Eva also helps Rachel when she is sick but Rachel would also get sick a lot before they were in the camp.
