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They Went Left Audiobook
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Publisher Description
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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"* "Hesse again proves to be a master of verisimilitude, bringing the realities of existence in the immediate postwar period to visceral life through painstaking detail. Her beautifully realized, highly empathetic characters come to life, too, in the pages of this superbly crafted novel...like real life, there is heartbreaking sadness here but also hope that life, finally, will be whole and fine, A to Z."
— Booklist, starred review
Quotes
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“Hesse takes a setting we think we understand and shifts it in an important way…A tightly plotted exploration of the consequences of fear.”
— New York Times -
“[Hesse] again uses a well-researched historical backdrop to tell a powerful coming-of-age story.”
— Washington Post -
“Those interested in historical fiction, romance, and mystery will not be able to put this book down.”
— School Library Journal (starred review) -
“Featuring factual locations and covering a period of time not often focused on, this is an excellent book to add to a Holocaust collection.”
— School Library Connection (starred review) -
“Combining history, romance, and mystery, They Went Left is a heartbreaking yet hopeful story of what it takes to survive after trauma.”
— BookPage (starred review) -
“Hesse again proves to be a master of verisimilitude, bringing the realities of existence in the immediate postwar period to visceral life through painstaking detail…[a] superbly crafted novel.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“Hesse has written several YA novels that touch on WWII traumas, and this one shows her gift at coming at an oft-told story from a new angle, as well as her compelling language, characterization, and ability to fill a story with realistic details and tension.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
Hesse writes with tenderness and insight about the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive and the ways we cobble together family with whatever we have. When the plot twists come, they are gut punches--some devastating, others offering hope... Crucial.
— New York Times Book Review -
beautifully tragic...an incredibly impressive novel about a timeframe and group of people that history often forgets. Their stories will stay with me forever.
— --Hypable -
* "A heartbreaking and heartwarming story of survival, loss, and renewal. Sure to please a variety of readers; those interested in historical fiction, romance, and mystery will not be able to put this book down.
— School Library Journal, starred review -
* "Hesse's meticulous research is evident on every page but never distracts from her propulsive plot. Combining history, romance and mystery, They Went Left is a heartbreaking yet hopeful story of what it takes to survive after trauma.
— BookPage, starred review -
* "Compelling.
— Publishers Weekly, starred review -
* "Featuring factual locations and covering a period of time not often focused on, this is an excellent book to add to a Holocaust collection. ...This book would be valuable for all high schools and should be considered a must-purchase."
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—School Library Connection, starred review
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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 -
Zofia's harrowing journey to find Abek and the fellow survivors she meets along the way will stay with the reader--particularly the echoes of the present evoked in a narrative of the past.
— Refinery29 -
* "Superb.... A satisfying and bittersweet novel, perfect for those who enjoyed Markus Zusak's The Book Thief.
— SLJ, starred review -
Monica Hesse takes a setting we think we understand and shifts it in an important way...a tightly plotted exploration of the consequences of fear.
— The New York Times Book Review -
Timely...[Hesse] again uses a well-researched historical backdrop to tell a powerful coming-of-age story.
— Washington Post -
A tapestry of guilt and acceptance, growing responsibility, and reluctant heroism, Hanneke's coming-of-age under heartbreaking circumstances is a jarring reminder of how war consumes and transforms the passions of ordinary life. Every devastating moment of this beautiful novel is both poignant and powerful, and every word feels true.
— Elizabeth Wein, New York Times bestselling author of Black Dove, White Raven; Rose Under Fire; and the Printz Honor-winning Code Name Verity -
Taut and intelligent.... the historical setting is rendered the way only an expert can do it.
— Washington Post -
* "Riveting.... A gripping historical mystery.
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Awards
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A Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week
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A BookPage Top Pick of the Month
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A New York Times bestseller in Hardcover Young Adult Ficition
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Longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize
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About Monica Hesse
Monica Hesse, a columnist at the Washington Post, is the author of several acclaimed books. including Girl in the Blue Coat and American Fire.
About Caitlin Davies
Caitlin Davies is a New York City–based actor and audiobook narrator who studied acting at the Eugene O’Neill National Institute, the British American Drama Academy, and the Barrow Group. She specializes in audiobooks for teens and young adults.