“Schiff’s book, a Holocaust memoir in verse, excellently translated by Dani James, is a literary discovery. Because of the immediacy of the verse, close to the oral tradition, the reader is forced to think about the relationship between text and reality, between the writer as artist and the writer as witness.”

“This book adds an important chapter to the oral history of a shameful episode in the twentieth century. Under the pressure of such immense emotions, the act of translation is a herculean task and especially so when the text is in poetic form. But Dani James does an admirable job rendering an English version of the original Flemish, whose heavy consonants and different rhythmic accents carry a kind of aural weight that is very difficult to capture in English.”

“Return to the Place I Nev­er Left, as the title sug­gests, is about what we don’t — or can’t — leave behind. And in Schiff’s mind, it’s his expe­ri­ences in the con­cen­tra­tion camps that, under­stand­ably, won’t escape him. Yet the title may offer a dual mean­ing: Hope­ful­ly we as read­ers will car­ry a lit­tle bit of Schiff with us wher­ev­er we go, not for­get­ting what hap­pened to him and to so many oth­ers — espe­cial­ly in the present cul­tur­al moment.”

“Many stories were written about what the Jewish people went through in the concentration camps, but I’ve never read one quite like this one. My heart goes out to Tobias for sharing his story. He is a true overcomer.”

“This is one of the most moving works from the Holocaust I’ve ever read”

“I have read a number of books, fiction and nonfiction, about the Holocaust. I believe this is the most moving I have ever read.”

“This shows a writer who is able to toe the line between writ­ing art­ful­ly enough to hold read­ers’ attention while also teach­ing them about his experiences.”

“This story was everything a reader could hope for but also needed as a collective society… It deeply touched all emotions and made in easy to connect to the experience.”