They Went Left
They Went Left by Monica Hesse is a historical novel published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on April 6, 2021. This reprint edition spans 364 pages and is written in English. Set in post-World War II Europe, the story follows eighteen-year-old Zofia Lederman as she navigates the aftermath of the Holocaust, searching for her younger brother, Abek, after their family was torn apart. The narrative unfolds against the backdrop of a continent in ruins, where Zofia’s journey becomes a quest to fulfill a promise made to her brother amidst the chaos of displacement and loss.
Readers will encounter a range of characters in Zofia’s path, each grappling with their own histories and hopes for the future. The novel explores themes of family, survival, and the struggle to rebuild lives after trauma. As Zofia delves deeper into her search, she confronts the challenges of finding one person among countless others who have vanished. This poignant tale reflects on the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable hardship, making it a significant addition to the genres of juvenile fiction and historical mysteries.
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“CRUCIAL.” –The New York Times Book Review
In the rubble of a broken continent, a girl must solve a mystery whose answers could rebuild her family–or break her completely, in this New York Times bestselling, critically acclaimed tour de force historical novel from Monica Hesse, author of Girl in the Blue Coat.
Germany, 1945. The soldiers who liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp say the war is over, but nothing feels over to eighteen-year-old Zofia Lederman. Her body has barely begun to heal, her mind feels broken. And her life is completely shattered: Three years ago, she and her younger brother, Abek, were the only members of their family to be sent to the right, away from the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Everyone else–her parents, her grandmother, radiant Aunt Maja–they went left.
Zofia’s last words to her brother were a promise: Abek to Zofia, A to Z. When I find you again, we will fill our alphabet. Now her journey to fulfill that vow takes her through Poland and Germany, into a displaced persons camp where everyone she meets is trying to piece together a future from a painful past: Miriam, desperately searching for the twin she was separated from after they survived medical experimentation. Breine, a former heiress, who now longs only for a simple wedding with her new fiancé. And Josef, who guards his past behind a wall of secrets, and is beautiful and strange and magnetic all at once.
But the deeper Zofia digs, the more impossible her search seems. How can she find one boy in a sea of the missing?
“This is not just a story about death and survival–it’s also about choosing to live on, even in the face of genocide, trauma and devastating loss. And what could be more relevant to our world today?” –Sharon Cameron, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Light in Hidden Places, writing in The New York Times
“A heartbreaking, gorgeously written story…The ending left me breathless and awed by its expression of enduring love.”―Jewell Parker Rhodes, New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Boys
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