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Description
Here's the plot of this amazing novel by Jane Yolen that I copied off some summary website.
"The book is divided into two parts, the "home", and the "castle". The ending is part of the "home" section, returning after the castle. The story is based around the German fairy tale of Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) which is told by "Gemma", an elderly woman, to her three granddaughters. She tells this to the children almost all the time and it is the only bedtime story she ever tells. The times when "Gemma" tells the story are flashbacks and alternate between the present-day story. In Poland, Josef tells his life story and his meeting with Gemma. In the book, his story is entitled under the "castle". He was originally also a target of the Holocaust for his homosexuality, and became a fugitive, meeting different people, mainly partisans, mainly in Germany. He had heard stories of the torture and the extermination camps and has joined a underground group set out to resuce victims. This leads him to Chelmno (called Kulmhof by the Germans), where he witnesses the gassing to death of the people in front of him. When he sees the bodies of the people dumped, he notices that a woman with red hair (Gemma) is still alive and faintly breathing. He uses CPR to revive her, which the woman, (who is later called KSIĘŻNICZKA, which means 'princess' in Polish) refers to in her fairy tale as 'the kiss of life'. KSIĘŻNICZKA falls in love with Josef's comrade Aron Mandlestein, called "the Avenger" and when they are almost killed by the Nazis, who are hunting the group down, KSIĘŻNICZKA marries Aron and takes on the new name Gitl Mandlestein, which she used as her name on her passport to America when Aron died."
(From left to right: Aron (aka the avenger), the Princess, and Joseph.)
P.S.: The triangle next to Joseph's name what the badge the homosexuals had to wear during the holocaust. it was a pink triangle.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK AND DO ART FOR IT. The beginning is boring, but once Joseph starts talling the story, it gets much better. I cried alot.

Description
Here's the plot of this amazing novel by Jane Yolen that I copied off some summary website.
"The book is divided into two parts, the "home", and the "castle". The ending is part of the "home" section, returning after the castle. The story is based around the German fairy tale of Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) which is told by "Gemma", an elderly woman, to her three granddaughters. She tells this to the children almost all the time and it is the only bedtime story she ever tells. The times when "Gemma" tells the story are flashbacks and alternate between the present-day story. In Poland, Josef tells his life story and his meeting with Gemma. In the book, his story is entitled under the "castle". He was originally also a target of the Holocaust for his homosexuality, and became a fugitive, meeting different people, mainly partisans, mainly in Germany. He had heard stories of the torture and the extermination camps and has joined a underground group set out to resuce victims. This leads him to Chelmno (called Kulmhof by the Germans), where he witnesses the gassing to death of the people in front of him. When he sees the bodies of the people dumped, he notices that a woman with red hair (Gemma) is still alive and faintly breathing. He uses CPR to revive her, which the woman, (who is later called KSIĘŻNICZKA, which means 'princess' in Polish) refers to in her fairy tale as 'the kiss of life'. KSIĘŻNICZKA falls in love with Josef's comrade Aron Mandlestein, called "the Avenger" and when they are almost killed by the Nazis, who are hunting the group down, KSIĘŻNICZKA marries Aron and takes on the new name Gitl Mandlestein, which she used as her name on her passport to America when Aron died."
(From left to right: Aron (aka the avenger), the Princess, and Joseph.)
P.S.: The triangle next to Joseph's name what the badge the homosexuals had to wear during the holocaust. it was a pink triangle.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK AND DO ART FOR IT. The beginning is boring, but once Joseph starts talling the story, it gets much better. I cried alot.