Long after I finished this book, I remained in awe of what I read. The melancholic tone of this story is hauntingly memorable, and offers an insight into an aspect of war that I don’t get to read too often in stories: what happens in the aftermath. Unpacking trauma as well as figuring out how to continue on in a world that no longer contains those we hold most dear. My heart clenched as I went through each page, desperate to cling to hope for these characters even when everything seems so bleak. I feel that this story gives voice to what it might look like for a character to return to normal after suffering unspeakable horrors, and navigating what is real vs. what was imagined in order to survive.
Zofia Lederman is 18, and recently been liberated from the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. Despite being told the war is over, it doesn’t seem that way to Zofia. She feels broken in mind, body, and spirit. Three years prior, she witnessed as her all of her family were sent to die while she and her brother survived. With a promise to find each other and fill the alphabet from Abek to Zofia, A to Z, Zofia sets off from Poland into Germany to seek her brother. However, everyone she meets at the displacement camp she is at is also looking for someone. She meets people just as forever changed by the horrors of what they experienced as she was, and a young man who hides his past behind a wall of secrets. As her search continues, it seems nearly impossible. How will she find a single boy in a sea of missing people? Will the answers she finds during her search help heal her or finally break her for good?
Friends, this story is beautiful, but it is also incredibly heartbreaking. You might be thinking: “Well, duh, it’s historical fiction.”…but this book is something entirely different. I wasn’t imagining that I would relate to the anguish that Zofia feels throughout this book. From the start, it pulls you in. Throughout this book you’ll see Zofia’s memories, as she remembers them. At first, it all feels real. Vivid, raw memories that serve as both a reminder and a glimmer of hope. There’s no doubt that she’s experienced some tragic things. Then, things become a little distorted. Zofia’s memories become a little more unstable. There’s something riveting about having a somewhat unreliable narrator.
Along the way, Zofia meets so many people with stories similar to hers. With the same fervent hopes that they’ll be reunited with their loved ones. Each character is so memorable. You’ll remember something about each one. Miriam, who seeks her twin sister after they went through horrible experimentation. Breine, a former heiress who now just wants a simple wedding and quiet life. There’s also Inge. I don’t want to say much about her because of spoilers, but she’s the one that really stuck with me.
There are many small joys scattered throughout this story that are lifelines for all of these characters. Telling stories, hobbies, and reclaiming pieces of the past that were thought lost forever. Romance is another joy…mostly. Zofia’s romantic partner was problematic, and for once I feel like the ending of this type of relationship was completely appropriate.
This story has a perfect ending, at least, in the realm of everything that has happened. It’s not this overtly happy thing that is full of hope, but rather takes a very realistic approach to what’s next for the characters. I have to say, this book truly resonated with me in a way that I didn’t think possible. Truly, all of Monica Hesse’s books have had this effect on me. Her books look into parts of history that most don’t think about. Her author’s notes are worth reading for the historical relevance to the places Monica chooses to focus on. There’s so much respect in her research, and it reflects into her writing. I look forward to her next book, wherever that journey takes us.
This book is undoubtedly a 10/10 for me. It’s powerful, and I hope that this story will resonate with many others. Definitely add this book to your TBR.
They Went Left is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
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.
