They Went Left
They Went Left by Monica Hesse is a historical mystery published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on April 7, 2020. This edition spans 384 pages and is presented in English. Set in Germany in 1945, the story follows eighteen-year-old Zofia Lederman as she navigates the aftermath of World War II. While soldiers declare the war over, Zofia grapples with her shattered life, having survived the horrors of the Holocaust alongside her younger brother, Abek. Her journey to reunite with him takes her through Poland and Germany, where she encounters others also seeking to piece together their fractured lives.
Readers will find a narrative that intertwines themes of family, loss, and resilience against the backdrop of a post-war Europe. As Zofia searches for Abek, she meets various characters, each with their own stories of survival and longing. The book delves into the complexities of rebuilding identities and relationships in the wake of trauma, exploring the mysteries of the past and the hope for the future. Through Zofia’s quest, the narrative presents a poignant exploration of the human spirit amidst the ruins of a broken continent.
Official synopsis Publisher
A tour de force historical mystery from Monica Hesse, the bestselling and award-winning author of Girl in the Blue Coat.
Germany, 1945. The soldiers who liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp said the war was 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, and 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? In the rubble of a broken continent, Zofia must delve into a mystery whose answers could break her–or help her rebuild her world.
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