The Choice : A true story of hope

Influenced by Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, Edith Eger’s account of her search for a life of meaning beyond Auschwitz is an exceptionally powerful story of hope and humanity.

If I could distill my entire life into one moment, into one still image, it is this: Three women in dark wool coats wait, arms linked, in a barren yard. They are exhausted, they have dust on their shoes. They stand in a long line.

In 1944, sixteen-year-old Edith Eger was sent to Auschwitz. There she endured unimaginable experiences, including being made to dance for the infamous Josef Mengele.

Over the coming months, Edith's bravery helped her sister to survive, and led to her bunkmates rescuing her during a death march. When their camp was finally liberated, Edith was pulled from a pile of bodies, barely alive.

In The Choice, Dr Edith Eger shares her experience of the Holocaust and the remarkable stories of those she has helped ever since. Today, she is an internationally acclaimed psychologist whose patients include survivors of abuse and soldiers suffering from PTSD.

She explains how many of us live within a mind that has become a prison, and shows how freedom becomes possible once we confront our suffering.

Like Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, but exceptional in its own right, The Choice is life changing. Warm, compassionate and infinitely wise, it is a profound examination of the human spirit, and our capacity to heal.

'The Choice is a gift to humanity. One of those rare and eternal stories that you don't want to end and that leave you forever changed.' - Desmond Tutu , Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

MEDIA REVIEWS

I can’t imagine a more important message for modern times. Eger’s book is a triumph, and should be read by all who care about both their inner freedom and the future of humanity - New York Times Book review

Extraordinary….will stick with you long after you read it - Bill Gates

The Choice is a gift to humanity. One of those rare and eternal stories that you don't want to end and that leaves you forever changed. Dr. Eger's life reveals our capacity to transcend even the greatest of horrors and to use that suffering for the benefit of others. She has found true freedom and forgiveness and shows us how we can as well - DESMOND TUTU, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

A masterpiece of holocaust literature. Her memoir, like her life, is extraordinary, harrowing and inspiring in equal measure - The Times Literary Supplement

Eger's remarkable spirit shines through in every word - Stylist

Edith’s strength and courage are remarkable in this memoir as she draws on her own unthinkable experience in Nazi concentration camps to become a therapist and help others recover from all kinds of hardship. Her life and work are an incredible example of forgiveness, resilience and generosity. - Sheryl Sandberg

I can’t describe to you how powerful this book is … I barely have words. - Marian Keyes

There have been many heartrending Holocaust books. But few as powerful as this new memoir by a ballet dancer. - Daily Mail

Exceptional…Eger became a friend of Viktor Frankl…and The Choice is a wonderful companion piece to his classic memoir Man’s Search for Meaning. Both books are full of hope…and leave you marvelling at the resilience of mankind - Daily Express

One of the most incredible [stories] I’ve ever read – and one you must read too - Sun

It will inevitably be filmed. Read the book first - The Observer & Guardian online

Rocket-fuelled inspiration - Psychologies

Deeply moving...extraordinary insight...It is not surprising that, when Eger speaks, her audiences are roused to give her a standing ovation. For they are not only honouring Edith Eger but also the triumph of the human spirit. - Jewish Chronicle

Important...gripping...a universal message of hope. - The Lucifer Effect

A beautiful memoir, reminiscent of the great works of Anne Frank and Viktor Frankl. But it is more than a book—it’s a work of art. It gave me goosebumps, the kind that grace you in transcendent moments of appreciating a Mozart sonata, an Elizabeth Barrett Browning sonnet, or the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Edith Eva Eger is my kind of hero. She survived unspeakable horrors and brutality; but rather than let her painful past destroy her, she chose to transform it into a powerful gift – one she uses to help others heal.

This warm, compassionate and truly extraordinary book is much more than a remarkable Holocaust survivor story. It is at heart an examination of the human spirit and how it can be helped to survive after trauma. Like Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, a more important book for our times is hard to imagine. - The Bookseller

Compelling and irresistible. A genuine, honest-to-goodness life-changer. - Good Housekeeping

Inspirational - Express

Powerful ... hard to put down. - Choice Magazine

Comparisons to Man's Search for Meaning are natural but this work has the potential to be even more bold.

The distressed fabric of the author's traumatic past becomes a beautiful backdrop for a memoir written with integrity and conviction...A searing, astute study of intensive healing and self-acceptance through the absolution of suffering and atrocity. - Kirkus Reviews