Miracle: The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller
About this audiobook
Brought to you by Penguin.
An unforgettable testament to hope and the bonds of brotherhood, Miracle reveals the untold story of the boys who escaped the gas chamber in Auschwitz, the only known Holocaust survivors to walk away from the jaws of the Nazi killing machine.
Early on the morning of October 9, 1944, seven-hundred boys, aged between 13 and 17, were taken out of Block 11 at Auschwitz. The night before, during a visit by Dr Josef Mengele, their identification cards had been stamped with a solitary German word – gestorben – 'died' in English. They were then marched by 25 bayonet-wielding SS men to Crematorium 5, stripped, and herded into a gas chamber.
This book is the story of a true-life miracle of the fifty-one boys who were pulled from that gas chamber – the only Holocaust survivors known to have escaped such a close brush with the Nazi killing machine – and given a second chance at life. A life, of course, that would be so horrifically snatched from those around them.
Based on the first-hand testimonies of six of the boys, six survivors whose stories are shared in this book for the very first time, Miracle interweaves the lives of the boys and the grander sweep of history in which they were held. The result is an unforgettable tale of hope, faith and fortitude in the face of one of the worst crimes against humanity.
© Michael Calvin 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
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About the author
Michael Calvin (Author)
Michael Calvin is an award-winning writer and Sunday Times bestselling author, whose books have been hailed for their insight and influence. He has collaborated with such celebrated sportsmen as Sir Alastair Cook, Dylan Hartley and Gareth Thomas, and is the only writer to win the British Sports Book of the Year award in successive years. Most recently, and in a wider context, he has collaborated on critically acclaimed autobiographies of Toby Gutteridge, a quadriplegic former Special Forces Soldier, and of Josef Lewkowicz, a Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter.
Naftali Schiff (Author, Reader)
Rabbi Naftali Schiff is a leading social entrepreneur and innovator who has conceived and built numerous successful educational organizations working to ensure vibrant Jewish futures. He is also a globally renowned collator of the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and documentary film maker.
He has personally interviewed over two hundred Holocaust survivors to ensure their testimonies, legacy and values are preserved for future generations. An indefatigable font of creativity, Naftali is committed to constantly identifying new pathways and vehicles in order to inspire today’s younger generation.
Michael Calvin (Reader)
Michael Calvin is one of the UK’s most accomplished sportswriters, having worked in more than eighty countries. He has covered every major sporting event, including seven summer Olympic Games and six World Cup finals. He was named Sports Writer of the Year for his despatches as a crew member in a round-the-world yacht race and has twice been named Sports Reporter of the Year.
His book, The Nowhere Men, a study of football scouts, won The Times Sports Book of the Year prize in 2014. He became the first author to receive the award in successive years, when Proud, his collaboration with former Wales and British Lions rugby captain Gareth Thomas, was named Sports Book of the Year in 2015.
In the same year Living On The Volcano, which exposed the pressures on managers, was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize. No Nonsense, his collaboration with Joey Barton, was named Autobiography of the Year in the 2017 British Sports Book awards.
No Hunger In Paradise, an insight into youth football that spawned a widely-praised BT Sport documentary, was a Sunday Times bestseller. State of Play, a study of the morality and social impact of modern football, was longlisted for the 2018 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.
He has been working closely with Thomas Bjorn on Mind Game to capture the unique nature of golf, and the principles and philosophies of the world’s best players.
