SHE CAN’T HAVE A FUTURE UNTIL SHE HAS A PAST.
1944
LEO STERN arrives at the Nazi camp at Borek with his wife Irena and his two daughters. The Sterns are spared from the gas chamber when they witness a murder. But in a place that humanity has deserted, Leo is forced to make unimaginable choices to try to keep his family alive.
1961
For seventeen years, Hanna has been unable to remember her identity and how she was separated from her family at the end of the war, until the discovery of a letter among her late uncle’s possessions reveals her real name – HANNA STERN – and leads her to Berlin in search of her lost past.
Helped by former lover Peter, Hanna begins to piece together the shocking final days of Borek. But Hanna isn’t the only one with an interest in the camp, and lurking in the shadows is someone who would prefer Hanna’s history to remain silent.
Based on in-depth research and beautifully written, this a novel of memory and identity, and the long shadow of war.
(P) 2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
1944
LEO STERN arrives at the Nazi camp at Borek with his wife Irena and his two daughters. The Sterns are spared from the gas chamber when they witness a murder. But in a place that humanity has deserted, Leo is forced to make unimaginable choices to try to keep his family alive.
1961
For seventeen years, Hanna has been unable to remember her identity and how she was separated from her family at the end of the war, until the discovery of a letter among her late uncle’s possessions reveals her real name – HANNA STERN – and leads her to Berlin in search of her lost past.
Helped by former lover Peter, Hanna begins to piece together the shocking final days of Borek. But Hanna isn’t the only one with an interest in the camp, and lurking in the shadows is someone who would prefer Hanna’s history to remain silent.
Based on in-depth research and beautifully written, this a novel of memory and identity, and the long shadow of war.
(P) 2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
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Reviews
Outstanding. Heartstopping. Brilliant. A story that scorches the page, searing in its honesty and profoundly moving in its emotional impact. The characters reach out to you and challenge your preconceptions in this testament to a tragic chapter of history that moved me to tears. It holds up a dark and shocking mirror to our world, yet ultimately it is a triumphant tale of light within darkness. Of love surviving hate. Impressively researched and superbly told, this is an important powerful novel that everyone should read
Taking the reader from the atmospheric Fenlands of Cambridgeshire to the ghost-filled forests of wartime Poland and finally into Cold War-era Berlin, The Silent Child is a thought-provoking and compelling novel about the long-lasting aftershocks of war. This is great storytelling, full of mysteries and twists, epic in its sweep, but precise and respectful in its historical details. J. G. Kelly's vividly evoked scenes will stay with me for a long time