They Went Left

Books | Young Adult Fiction / Historical / Holocaust

4.5

(540)

Monica Hesse

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?

Historical Fiction

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More Details:

Author

Monica Hesse

Pages

384

Publisher

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Published Date

2020-04-07

ISBN

031649058X 9780316490580

Community ReviewsSee all

"Really great book. Showed what characters went through after the war as opposed to during it. I highly recommend "

S E

Skye Edelson-Bennett

"A great book about trying to start over after horrors from the past. I couldn’t put this one down."

H2000

"This book was really good. I ended up having to finish the last couple chapters in one sitting because I was so intrigued I couldn't put it down. The ending is very unique compared to most historical fiction books I've read."

W W

Where's Waldo

"Oh my gosh, nothing can prepare you for this book. It’s beautiful, heart-wrenching, terribly sad, intense, and hard. The story has so many twists and turns and just when you think everything is fine and dandy, something insane happens. I loved reading this book for the first time and can’t wait to read it again. Good luck"

H A

Haylee Albaugh

"Many books focus on WWII and the Holocaust; few examine what happened to the people who survived. Of course, as we know, the survivors live to tell the story, but are they reliable narrators? How does their extreme trauma inform what we know? I have only an inkling of what Nazis did to my surviving family. After all, families forcibly separated by governments can never be made entirely whole again. I have never seen my identity on the page the way Monica Hesse writes it here. I also sobbed reading this book."

R T

Read Today

"the plot twist i cant even"

ruby

"it’s amazing. The side plot love story, the search, and the emotions. It was perfect"

k k

kenley knop

"Such a good book if your into the Holocaust Era this is the book for you but this story line is after the camps and its such a good read and there is some romance drama in here as well ❤ 😊 enjoy!!"

A A

Ana Abreu

"I loved this book so much! I got it for Christmas one year, but lost it after reading it only once. When I think of books I really want to read it’s this one. It’s really beautiful and sad."

hedgehog

"I liked this book because it had a lot of suspense and creativity."

T T

Tobias Tullo ( Student )

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