Tommy Schnurmacher has written a book that could change your life. It changed his.

As a writer, Montreal media icon Schnurmacher is an intense force of nature, a seismic swell of visceral empathy, laser-sharp wit and courageous self-analysis.

Now meet Olga. Auschwitz prisoner A-25057, aka Mom, A fearless, dramatic and unpredictable maverick. An original. Exposing the souls of a family for all to see, Make-up Tips from Auschwitz is an addictive page-turner. Schnurmacher's voice resonates with a lyrical cadence all his own and an unsettling candor reminiscent of humorist David Sedaris and essayist Augusten Burroughs.

Like the Oscar-winning film, Life is Beautiful, Schnurmacher revisits the Holocaust with rays of light in the darkness. Sparkling with chutzpah and charm, this is a story of a family's cultural collision and delightful dysfunction. With the growing pains of Shtisel, the earthiness of The Simpsons and the fierce family loyalty of The Sopranos, these newcomers from Hungary defy authority. They figured out early on that conventional values were not enough. It was their moxie that allowed them to succeed.

Schmooze with the passing parade that includes John Lennon, Elizabeth Taylor and Crystal Nacht. You will laugh out loud as you meet a cast of supporting characters who redefine eccentric: the 50-minute therapist, the psychic rabbi and a superstitious hypochondriac named Paris.

Once you get to know these mutineers from the mainstream, you will want to organize an intervention. Or at least a Passover Seder.

Tommy Schnurmacher is a national award-winning broadcaster who has interviewed Canadian prime ministers, Arianna Huffington, Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Jeffrey Eugenides, and show business personalities like Clint Eastwood, Catherine Deneuve, and Charlie Sheen.

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I devoured MAKEUP TIPS FROM AUSCHWITZ in two sittings. Each brief segment is like popcorn, making you say to yourself, "OK, I'll read just one more..." In fact, author Tommy Schnurmacher has not written a formulaic biography with chapters in chronological order. Instead, it offers up insightful and entertaining personal anecdotes in bite-size 'pieces"; not in the French sense of little scenes or playlets, but rather how our memories truly work, as the flotsam and jetsam that emerge from the sea of life and remain on the shore of memory. That is why this book should be seen as memoirs: not just a standard narrative of one life, but rather of two souls -mother and son - woven together. It is a tale of attachment and ultimately, of letting go. – Roy Doliner, best-selling author of The Sistine Secrets

“A deeply affecting memoir at once tragic and very funny. Well written, an addictive read” – Anna Porter, author of In Other Words. How I Fell in Love with Canada One Book at a time” and Kasztner’s Train: The True Story of Rezso Kasztner, Unknown Hero of the Holocaust.