The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
Graydon House
March 19, 2019
10-1525823566
978-1525823565
Women's Fiction
432 pages

"The Things We Cannot Say" incorporates two novels in one with an impactful and gripping tale of two generations. The prologue commences in the Soviet Union during 1942 with Tomasz Slaski marrying Alina Dziak. Alina, who was raised in a tiny town in Poland changes her name to Hanna Wis'niewski to protect her identity.

Chapter One is at the present time, introducing Alice, Alina's granddaughter at the market with her young son, seven-year-old Eddie who is autistic. Alice becomes distressed when Eddie suffers a meltdown from being over stimulated in the store. She carries the full responsibility for his care as well as for her overworked husband Wade, and precocious older daughter, Callie. Now, her beloved grandmother, Babcia, is hospitalized after a stroke from which it looks like she will not recover.

Like Eddie, Babcia now cannot verbalize what she wants to say, though using Eddie's iPad and a program called "Augmentative and Alternative App" (AAC) she is able to "speak." Eddie and Babcia share a deep kinship, so when they are together they can communicate with each other and those present.

Babcia shows Alice a photo of a light-haired man with these words written on the back: "Photograph by Henry Adamcwiz, Trzebinia Hill, 1 July 1941." Alice believes Babcia misses her husband who passed the year before, but the man in the picture is not Pa, making Alice wonder about his identity.

Babcia types on the iPad: Tomasz. Find Tomasz. Please find Tomasz.

Alice tells her Pa is dead and thinks her grandmother is confused, but Babcia again types: No Pa. Find Tomasz, then Trzebinia. After this, she begs Alice to go to Poland.

Having endured devastation growing up there, Babcia has secrets, yet now approaching death she seems to need closure which only Alice can offer by traveling there.

Alina's tale recounts her younger years where imparts how her parents sheltered her from the horrors of the Resistance. A devout Catholic, she and her mother work the fields of their farm, one day having this conversation:

"By afternoon, as we planted on the other side of the vegetable field, the black-gray line had risen so high that it seemed to stretch all the way across the sky.

"'Stop looking,' Mama snapped at me suddenly. 'Looking at it won't make it go away.' . . .

. . . "' I know what it is. It's from a work camp for prisoners,' Mama said abruptly. 'Just a furnace.'

"'A furnace,' I repeated, glancing at the tower of smoke again and frowning. 'That must be a very big furnace.'

"'It's to heat the water,' she told me. 'There are many prisoners in the camp—mostly prisoners of war. They are just warming water for the showers and the laundry.'"

Alina has loved Tomasz since the age of nine, and now at fifteen, even the disastrous years under the Nazi regime can no longer suppress their affection. Tomasz goes to Warsaw to become a doctor. An honorable man, through the atrocities he witnesses, he aides Jewish refugees he befriends by hiding them from the soldiers. Because of this, he is in danger, so his meetings with Alina need to be clandestine to keep her and her family out of peril.

When Alina's parents are captured and taken to the camps, she fully realizes the evil of that is happening, and Tomasz, knowing the need to get out of the country, prepares their escape. Things do not go as planned, though Alina is able to flee and later immigrate to America.

Alice does not want to go to Europe. Wade acts indifferent to Eddie and she never left him before always having been in charge of everything domestic. However, she loves Babcia too much to refuse her wishes and she admits she is captivated by the mystery of her grandmother's past.

Putting her concerns aside and trusting Wade and Callie to handle things at home, Alice flies to Poland where she meets a guide who also is a historian. Because records were often destroyed from that time, they have difficulty putting pieces together, but Alice is resolute about finding information so Babcia can die in peace.

Not only is this novel about undying love, but it also offers the tragic minutiae of World War II. Though fiction, these horrors did occur and should never be disregarded. An intense story of survival, hardship, and heartbreak, "The Things We Cannot Say" is sure to evoke emotion in even the most cynical reader.

This book is everything that I hoped it would be, and more. A stunning tale of hope and loss, love and death, and the family that keeps you going, even when you aren’t sure you can take one more step.

Told by the dual perspectives of the young, 17-year old Alina Dziak in recently-German-occupied Poland in 1941, and mother-of-two Alice Michaels in Florida in the present-day, Rimmer takes her readers on a journey back in time. As we learn what happened to Alina, and as Alice rushes to find out more about her grandmother Hanna’s childhood in Poland. The two stories eventually converge in Poland in the present day in a shockingly beautiful twist as we learn the truth about the events that brought each woman to that moment.

This book was hauntingly beautiful and surprised me with its simple beauty, and deep look at how the Nazis changed the lives of the people of Poland forever. The book was generally historically accurate, and the personal details that Rimmer wove through the history felt real and true. I loved this narrative of a part of the war that is often overlooked, or forgotten. I sobbed through the end of this book, as I realized the story unfolding before me, and was left sitting on my couch in awe of this incredible story.

As a mother of two myself, although significantly younger than the main character’s two children, I also felt that her family dynamics resonated with me. While my stress is different than hers, there are always stressors that a parent faces and I appreciated the perspective that Alice’s character brought to the table on family, marriage, and parenting.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Graydon House Books for the free electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a stunning and compelling novel. I love historical fiction and Kelly Rimmer brought so much to life for me in this book. I have read about the devastation of war but I actually felt it while reading her book. Alice and Alina are family and the story is told in two timelines. Alina is suffering the effects of a stroke and wants her granddaughter Alice to come to Poland and do something for her.
This story is about family, love, heartbreak, and so much more. You will have a range of emotions as you read this book.
Many thanks to Graydon House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Kelly Rimmer has done it again. If you haven’t read anything by this woman, I urge to pick up a book, any book, by her. She has a way of making you feel all the feels and leaves you with a pile of tissues beside you, but she doesn’t just rip your heart out, she sews it up and puts it back in its place.

This story is a little bit of everything; historical fiction, women’s fiction, domestic drama and a love story, all rolled up into one. The story alternates between Alice, in the present day and her grandmother, Alina in the late 1930’s, early 1940’s Nazi occupied Poland.

The Things We Cannot Say is a powerful book that kept me turning pages long after I should have been sleeping. I just can’t say enough about this book and the way that Rimmer continues to blow me away with her writing and story-telling.

I highly recommend this book to all lovers of historical fiction, domestic dramas and anyone who just loves a good, heartfelt story. It’s a story of war, yes, but it is also a story of love, hope, strength, courage and how two women, in two very different times, come into their own.

Thank you to Harlequin – Graydon House Books for my copy of this book via NetGalley

In 1942 Poland, Alina Dziak hopes to marry her childhood sweetheart Tomasz Slaski, but war gets in the way of their marriage. Tomasz goes to Warsaw to study medicine, but when he returns to their hometown of Trzebinia, Poland, he is in hiding and helping a young Jewish couple, Saul and Eva Weiss, and their baby.

Fast forward to present day Florida where Alice struggles with parenting her son Eddie, who is on the autism spectrum, and her highly intelligent daughter Callie. Though Alice’s husband Wade is loving and caring, Alice doesn’t think that he has a strong bond with Eddie, and she has the primary responsibility for making sure that Eddie isn’t impacted by sensory overload.

When Alice’s grandmother, Babcia, has a stroke and is hospitalized, she becomes non-verbal and uses an iPad equipped with the technology similar to Eddie’s iPad to communicate.

Babcia wants Alice to go to Poland to find Tomasz, according to her communications on the iPad. But Alice is confused because Babcia’s husband, Alice’s grandfather, Tomasz, has already passed away.

Though Alice’s mother, a fiercely independent woman and very successful judge doesn’t believe that Alice should make the trip to Poland, Alice can’t deny her grandmother's dying wish even though she isn’t really sure what she is looking for.

Alice takes a leap of faith, trusting her husband Wade to look after Callie and Eddie though he has never undertaken the task before, and she books a flight to Poland. Alice works with a Polish guide when she travels to Poland and finds the house where her grandmother lived as a child as she searches for answers about Tomasz.

Alice uncovers some clues to the past as she learns to trust her husband’s parenting abilities and restores faith in her marriage.

Chapters detailing the brutal treatment of the Polish and Jewish people by the Nazis during World War II highlight the bravery of those determined to survive and help those most vulnerable to persecution.

Present-day chapters reveal the importance of chronicling family history before those who can offer true first-person accounts are no longer alive to verify the accuracy of their incredible stories.

Riveting page-turning narratives will keep the reader awake long into the night to uncover the secrets of the past in this truly memorable novel.

Linda's Book Obsession Reviews "The Things We Cannot Say" by Kelly Rimmer, Graydon House Books, March 19, 2019

Kelly Rimmer, Author of "The Things We Cannot Say" has written an intriguing, intense, captivating, riveting, enthralling and multi-layered novel.  The Genres for this story are Historical Fiction and Fiction. This story is narrated by two characters in two different time-lines, that seem to merge with many questions and dark secrets.   The author describes her colorful cast of characters as complicated and complex.

Alina is involved in Poland, when the Nazis come to power. It is around 1942. . She and her childhood friend Tomasz are now engaged, and everything seems to be changing.  Tomasz wants to be a Physician and plans to go to school. As the Nazis take over the Polish village, things become dangerous and deadly. They are betrayals, and great fear. Life seems like it will never be the same.

In the present time, Alice is stressed with marital and family problems, and is visiting her Grandmother in the hospital who has had a stroke. The only way that the Grandmother is able to communicate is through an iPad program, that her autistic son uses, and keeps begging Alice to go to Poland. There are a list of  people's names that Alice finds when looking through her grandmother's things. Alice doesn't know who they are.

In this well written novel, I appreciate that the author discusses the importance of family, friends,  kindness, love and hope, communication, forgiveness and truth. I highly recommend this novel of Historical Fiction for those readers who appreciate the genre. I received an ARC for my honest review.

Sometimes you just run across a book that reminds you of how love could be and maybe should be. Sometimes you just can’t put the book down and you just read. The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer is one of those books. The novel has a double narrative stories throughout the book. One story is about Alina and the other about Alice. Both stories were about love, loyalty and doing the best you can for someone, but the time frames were different.

Alina grew up on Poland on a small farm near the German border. She knew from a very young age that she loved Thomasz. While German Nazi’s were making life harder, Thomasz was in college in Warsaw, Alina’s life began to change. Deprivation and hard work tore through the area. The Nazis taking people and food and anything of value. There were the furnaces from over the hill that kept belching off acrid smoke. Alina continued to wait for Thomasz and her life with her love to start.

Alice had a family with two special needs children and one special needs husband. Her husband and daughter were brilliant and seemed to need constant attention. Her son was diagnosed as a child on the Autism Spectrum and was unable to communicate verbally, but was through his communication device. Into all this we met her Babcia (grandmother) who had had a stroke and was struggling with communication but wanted Alice to help her find Thomasz.

As the stories go back and forth between times and main characters, I found myself hoping for both characters. I wanted them to succeed in their quests. I wanted to hope. One remarkable element that struck me in both storylines was how much the main characters could not say, so I felt the title was perfect for the novel. The book was a magnificent read of perseverance and love, patience and passion, hope and hell. The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer is a fabulous book, that I whole-heartily encourage others to read… tissues are an option to consider.

{#partner #freebook #graydonhousebooks}

“Home is not the country we stand in-it’s us. Home is the future we have been planning and dreaming of. We can build it anywhere.”
Following two separate timelines – one in the midst of WWII-occupied Poland in 1942 and the other in present-day Florida – Kelly Rimmer beautifully brings a new perspective to WWII historical fiction. With a twist I wasn’t expecting, Rimmer emphasizes the sacrifices made in the name of love and reminds her readers that tough choices have to be made in times of survival and war.

While I LOVED the past tense storyline, the present-day plot was just meh to me. I understand the connection, but I wasn’t invested in it’s characters at all. I found myself skimming these parts so as not to miss something important, but anticipated the chapters when I could return to Alina.

The story truly came alive when it would flashback to Poland and we learned of the great sacrifices made by Alina and those around her.

I think Rimmer says it best in the afterword:

“History’s most important lessons can be difficult to confront and even harder to share-but we are all richer when those lessons persist through generations. Perhaps more than ever, we need the wisdom our forebears gleaned through blood, sweat and more than their share of tears.”

This book is out this Tuesday, March 19, 2019!

The Things We Cannot Say combines a WWII historical fiction with a current day tale and generates a rich, immersive, emotional read.

The alternating timelines are narrated by Alina a 15-year-old teenager in 1940’s Poland in love with Tomasz, and by Alice, a contemporary woman dealing with her family and their never-ending needs, as well as her beloved grandmother in her last days. As each of their stories unfold, we learn the strengths, foibles, hopes, dreams and regrets of them both.

The WWII story was my favorite part. Kelly Rimmer paints the scenes so vividly in this story line that it was easy for me to feel fully immersed and engaged in the action and characters. We start with Alina, a naïve teenager whose only concern is being away from her fiancée when he goes off to college, to watching as Hitler invades Poland and the horrors that his regime brings. The hard times endured (the phrase “hard times” being totally inadequate) by Alina and those around her gave plenty of opportunity for people to show their true characters. The love story of Alina and Tomasz and their dedication to each other was heartwarming and heartbreaking in turn. Alina’s story stays strong as the years pass and she raises a family. This story line is filled with resilient people who display immense courage, bravery and sacrifice when confronted with the evils of war.

I found Alice is a much less sympathetic character. She has lost herself in feeling that she must take care of her family all on her own. Her husband, Wade, is always busy with work, and doesn’t engage or help with their son, Eddie, who is on the autism spectrum and has special needs. They also have an intellectually gifted teenaged daughter, Callie, who has a big sense of entitlement, and is totally frustrated and at a loss when things don’t go the way she wants them to go. Alice is very good at playing the martyr and feeling sorry for herself. Perhaps she learned it from her mother, a highly successful professional who has a hard time relating to her family. At the beginning, Alice’s only redeeming quality is her love for her grandmother who is in failing health, and who she would do anything for.

As more layers unfold in each of the stories, we begin to see the connection between the two women. Alice becomes more likeable as she starts to allow her husband to be an active and equal partner and parent, and as she takes a surprising action to give her grandmother the gift of peace before she dies.

The Things We Cannot Say is a solid 4 star read. I highly recommend it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Graydon House for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5

I had very mixed feelings about this book. It’s told in alternating perspectives, which usually don’t bother me, but it just didn’t work for me here.

Alina’s story in incredibly interesting and heartbreaking. She tells how she grew up in Poland during the war, and how things went from seemingly okay to downright terrible. She goes from being naive about what’s happening around her, to being right in the middle of everything and truly seeing the horror of war. Her story was much more compelling, and the cast of characters were much more likable. I almost the book had just been about her.

Alice’s story was almost completely opposite in terms of how I felt. I didn’t care for Alice one bit. She made her perspective so difficult to read. There were a couple of times I ended up skimming her parts because I couldn’t stand her. Nothing even remotely interesting happens in her story until almost 60% into the book. Until then, it’s an endless monologue of how much her life sucks and how shitty her husband is and a bunch of other ‘woe is me’ crap. I couldn’t drum up any sympathy for her. Her son has a meltdown in a grocery store and destroys hundreds of dollars worth of products, and when anyone approaches her to try and help, all she can do is bitch about it. When her husband makes dinner for the family, all she can do is bitch about the dishes. But she won’t actually bitch out loud. It’s all inner monologue. So instead of being an adult and talking about what’s bothering her, she just treats her husband like crap. Her mother wasn’t much better, and Pascale came off incredibly snobby and superior. The only really likable character in her parts was Babcia, and she couldn’t even speak.

I felt like the resolution to the mystery was a little too neat and tidy as well. It took so long for Alice to get to Poland, and then things were straightened out fairly quickly and easily. It would have been much better if the author had taken some of Alice’s bitching time and used it towards the mystery part.

This was a decent entry into the WWII genre, but it was by no means extraordinary or unique.

Absolutely LOVED this book!!! Loved the characters, story and writing style- everything about it. There were tears. (Thank goodness I was in bed reading and not at work during lunch.) The story was incredibly sad, but I still loved it. Every time I read books about WWII, I can't imagine what people went through and how they were able to survive such horrible situations. It's heart wrenching. I loved how the book alternated between Alice in present time and Alina during the 1940s in Poland during the Nazi occupation. I wished Hanna would have been able to share her story with her family and let them know everything that happened to her in Poland. This book was full of love and the lengths that family would go to protect their loved ones. (Alina's parents, Tomasz, and Saul just to name a few.) There were definitely some twists to the story, especially when Alice is in Poland trying to find out her family history. I loved Alina's story and how it was revealed. All the characters seemed very realistic and believable.

I definitely recommend the book, especially if you are a fan of WWII historical fiction. I look forward to reading more books by the author. This book was beautifully written and I can't stop thinking about it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from HARLEQUIN - Graydon House Books (U.S. & Canada) through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Things We Cannot Say
by Kelly Rimmer
 
HARLEQUIN - Graydon House Books (U.S. & Canada)

Graydon House
General Fiction (Adult) , Historical Fiction
Pub Date 19 Mar 2019
 
 
I am reviewing a copy of The The Things We Cannot Say through Harlequin-Graydon House Books and Netgalley:
 
1942 Europe is still in the relentless grip of war.  Not far from the tents of the Russian Refuge camp camps she calls home, a woman speaks her wedding vows, a decision that will change her destiny.  A lie that would stay buried until the the twenty first century.


Alina Dziak knew from the time she was nine that she would marry her best friend Tomasz. Now fifteen and engaged, Alina is not concerned by the reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish Border, she believed her neighbors didn't pose a real threat instead she dreams of the day when Tomasz returns from College in Warsaw so they could marry. Little by little brutal injustice by the Nazi's take hold and Alina's small village becomes divided by hate and fear. Then as the fabric of their lives is torn apart Tomasz disappears. Alina has once measured the time between visits from Tomasz now she alternates between hope and despair. She waits for Tomasz and avoids the attention of the soldiers who are patrolling her parents farm. For now even the deafening silence is preferable to the grief.


This story weaves the narratives of two women's stories, living in a different time and a place in a way that leaves you wanting more.


This story is one I definitely recommend, the characters come to life on the page.


I give The Things We Cannot Say five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

This is WWII historical fiction, told in two time periods. It is set in Poland and follows the lives of a Catholic family. In present day Alice (an America mother of two) is asked by her dying grandmother to go to Poland, but due to a stroke she is really not sure what the grandmother wants her to do there. Feeling it is important she upends her life to make the trip and while there learns the truth of her grandparents lives. It is a great recommendation for fans of books such as The Alice Network, etc.

I'm not sure just exactly how I feel about this book. I could have loved it, but I felt that there were issues with it that just didn't go over well with me.

For me, this was a depressing read that was also fascinating. I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say. This was a very deep book dealing with two heart-breaking issues. A modern woman faced with a deeply autistic child and a semi-dysfunctional family and a woman who lived through the worst that war could give.

Unfortunately what made this book difficult for me to LOVE was that both of these women in their own ways were spoiled, selfish and naive. The author also did a lot of inner-dialoguing and for me, that is just a turn-off. The only reason why I kept reading was to see how the mystery was going to come out and if it weren't for that I may have not finished this book.

I'm aware that most people love this book, unfortunately, I won't be putting this book on my "comfort books" shelf.

However, I will be recommending this book; most especially to book clubs.

*ARC supplied by the publisher

The Things We Cannot Say # NetGalley
Kelly Rimmer

This book just blew me away and left me crying at the end. It was a story that really tugged at my heartstrings and I could not put it down until I had finished it. This is the first book I have read by this author. I don’t know how I have missed her books, but will definitely have them on my radar from now on. This is one of the best historical fiction books I have read. You can tell the author did a great deal of research before writing this book and it paid off. Her characters are very well defined and rich with detail. Do yourself a favor and go out and buy this book. You won’t regret it.
It earned a solid 5stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy read of this book for an honest review.

"The Things We Cannot Say" is not a rare story that comes to us from the dark times of WWII. And no matter how many similar stories I read, I still find them disturbing, shocking and heart wrenching. People that lived thru that dark time never truly forget their stories and nor should we. These stories should be told, to remind us of the horrors of the past, for what we should never repeat.

In this particular novel, we come across one of the many victims of WWII. However, no matter how much time has passed, Alina was never able to admit her past to her loved ones alone with her road to survival. Alina's story shows us courage and willingness to keep going forward, no matter how much one has lost in the past. I was glued to the pages of the book, it has many twists and turns and it is absolutely captivating.

This novel was one of love, loss, survival, and redemption. It's well-written, absorbing, and an unforgettable story. Thank you NetGalley and Graydon House publisher for an advanced copy of the book, and Kelly Rimmer for a fascinating story.

<i>The Things We Cannot Say</i> is a WWII historical fiction/dual-timeline novel that is a brilliant read.

Alina and Tomasz are meant to be together; they grow up in their small Polish town and dream big for their futures. However, as Poland is invaded by Germany in 1939, their dreams of a prosperous and loving future suddenly implode. Tomasz is off in Warsaw at university, and Alina and her family, along with the others in her town, must now face the reality of the Nazi invasion. Everyone quickly sees just how brutal and finite the Nazi regime will be ... and despite hopes that the war will be short-lived, it becomes apparent that privations, prejudice, outright discrimination and cruelty await. While Alina longs for news of Tomasz, her own childlike innocence is absolutely shattered to bits by what she sees and experiences. Living in the dark shadow of Nazi Germany meant difficult choices every day. And it is how people lived by their choices that we remember them today. It is those choices that can free us ... or leave us chained with a lifetime of guilt.

The book not only follows Alina in WWII Poland but also Alice in modern day, a mum struggling with her family obligations and her marriage. When her grandmother's health declines rapidly, Alice is asked by her grandmother to help her piece together the bits of her past which she has never told anyone. Worried to leave her family behind, particularly her son Eddie, who is on the autism spectrum, Alice nevertheless has to consider her grandmother's dying wish and her own familial obligations - will she be able to find out about her family's past and still be the mother and wife she wants to be?

Both Alice and Alina, in their respective time periods, face seemingly enormous odds stacked against them, yet they grow in courage, perseverance, understanding, and determination throughout the novel. Part of what I enjoyed the most is watching the characters grow - this is critical in a novel. The women start one way and end up another ... they find their true selves amidst the worst life can throw at them. They demonstrate courage and strength. They must make difficult decisions to find out what is the most important. And sometimes, secrets take a long time to come to light because to reveal them would mean unleashing a tightly wound web of pain and remembering.

The novel was truly compelling, well-researched, and un-putdownable. The setting was described with a visceral detail that put me into the Polish town of Trzebinia and the refugee camp and the grocery store with Eddie. I wanted to know how it would work out for Alice and Alina. I wanted love to triumph. In other words, I genuinely cared about the characters, and after being fully immersed in their lives and losses, after racing through this tumultuous and dangerous time in history with them - I wanted to know how the novel resolved itself and felt all the richer for it.

Thank you NetGalley and Graydon House Books for the chance to read and review this ARC.

I continue to be surprised whenever I come across a new historical fiction story, especially when it’s set in the WWII era. I’m even more impressed, however, when it’s a five-star read such as this one. This one is the tale of young Alina and the love of her life, Tomasz. Their plans to marry and build a life together are put on hold with the Nazi occupation of Poland. Alina continues to hold out hope, even as Tomasz goes missing and the day to day atrocities continue to mount. The story alternates between war-torn Poland and modern day times as secrets from decades ago are revealed. A must read for fans of this genre!

Nearly 75 years ago, on 1 September 1939, the Luftwaffe bombed Poland just before the German army invaded. Although the Poles tried to fight back, they were no match for the Nazi war machine, and the Third Reich soon annexed Poland.

The border of the German General Government was established a few miles east of the town of Trzebinia, Poland. On 5 September 1939, just four days after the blitzkrieg, German soldiers marched into Trzebinia and executed 97 people, including local leaders.

Then, from mid-1940 until 1945, approximately 200,000 Polish children were abducted by the Nazis. Those kidnapped were deemed Aryan-looking—fair-skinned and fair-haired—and were adopted or fostered by German families or sent to Schutzstaffel (SS) Home Schools. Children determined to be Slavik in appearance and/or nature were sent to extermination or concentration camps, where they were either worked to death or gassed or were subjected to barbaric medical experiments.

As if things weren’t bad enough, in 1941, Nazi Germany decided that the Polish people must be eradicated so that their lands could be settled by German colonists. As part of the Generalplan Ost, the Nazis’ plan for mass-scale genocide, ethnic cleansing, and colonization, the Polish population was forced to perform hard labor and, through strict rationing, were slowly starved. The Nazis’ goal was to eliminate between 70 and 80 percent of the population (or about 20 million people.)

It is during this horrific time in history that the book, The Things We Cannot Say, written by Kelly Rimmer, begins. The prologue is set in 1942 in a Russian refugee camp where a wedding is taking place. Although this should only be a joyful occasion, it is also a somber one. But the bride refuses to allow the miasma around her to overshadow her outlook: “War had taken everything from me, but I refused to let it shake my confidence in the man I loved.”

The book then alternates chapter-by-chapter, telling the stories of a modern-day, middle-aged American woman named Alice and a World War II-era Polish teenager named Alina.

Alice Michaels is married to a brilliant, constantly working man named Wade. She is the mother of a daughter, also intellectually gifted, and a son, who is severely autistic and has little expressive language. Each day can be a challenge for Alice, who struggles to balance her son’s overwhelming needs with her daughter’s ever-growing list of extracurricular activities. Just when she thinks things couldn’t get more difficult, Alice learns that her biggest supporter, her grandmother (Babcia) has suffered a massive stroke.

Alina Dziak is a young woman living in Trzebinia, Poland. She is engaged to her longtime love, Tomasz Slaski, whose father is the town’s doctor. Alina’s elder sister is married and lives in a big house in town. Alina and her twin older brothers live with their parents work on their small farm. Unlike Tomasz’ family, Alina’s family is poor. However, despite poverty, the Dziak family is happy—that is until the Nazis invade Poland.

Back and forth, back and forth, the frenetic pace and uncertainties of Alice’s life are intricately woven together with the constant unease and underlying fear of Alina’s existence. An extremely emotional and exceptionally well-written narrative, The Things We Cannot Say gives us a glimpse into the lives of two women from different countries in different eras whose worlds are shaped by the challenges they face, both great and small, and how they both find the inner strength to survive and grow.

Long after I finished reading The Things We Cannot Say, its characters remained with me. One of my favorite recent reads, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys first-person narratives or who loves World War II historical fiction.

***
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Graydon House Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Such a beautiful book. I've read quite a few books recently that takes place during World War II, but none taking place in Poland. Such a sweet story of Alice and her Babcia, or grandmother. Babcia has suffered a stroke and emplores Alice to visit Poland for her. Bobcia would never say too much about her childhood and how she escaped Poland during the Nazi Occupation. Due to her limited speech after her stroke, Alice isn't really sure what she is looking for when she goes to Poland to take some pictures for Babcia. Her trip changes her life in many ways, both at home and the new things she learns about her family. This is sure to be a book that will be enjoyed by Kristin Hannah fans. Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy.