Vendor
	Fritz Agency Christian Dittus
Original language
English
Categories
Books for very young children, children’s picture books & activity books

THEY WENT LEFT

Monica Hesse

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.

SIE MUSSTEN NACH LINKS GEHEN
Deutsch von Cornelia Stoll
[HC cbj 10/2020]
[Pbck cbj 07/2022]

Available products
Book Published 2020-04-01 by Little, Brown (US)

Comments

[...] 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 (THE WAR OUTSIDE) 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

A Sydney Taylor Book Award honor book.

Featuring factual locations and covering a period of time not often focused on, this is an excellent book to add to a Holocaust collection. Readers will care so much for Zofia and all she has lost, including two toes from frostbite from a forced march. School Library Connection, starred review

Monica Hesse's THEY WENT LEFT debuted at #15 on the IndieBound YA best-seller list. Read more...

Hesse (GIRL IN THE BLUE COAT) weaves an enthralling tale of survival, focusing on bonds forged in times of tragedy and loss. The novel's driving force is the unflinching love Zofia has for her brother; she is compelled by the memory of the family story she sewed into Abek's jacket's label ("Abek to Zofia... A to Z"). Immersive writing and perfect pacing make THEY WENT LEFT compulsively readable, while each reveal keeps readers guessing until the stunning (and heartrending) conclusion.. -- Shelf Awareness, 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. -- The New York Times

Top ten Indie Next pick on the Spring 2020 Indie Next List.

France: Nathan Jeunesse;

Czech: Albatros; Russia: Eksmo; Romania: Editura Art;