Now a New York Times bestseller!From the author of Truths I Never Told You, Before I Let You Go, and the upcoming The Warsaw Orphan, Kelly Rimmer’s powerful WWII novel follows a woman’s urgent search for answers to a family mystery that uncovers truths about herself that she never expected.“Kelly Rimmer has outdone herself. I thought that Before I Let You Go was one of the best novels I had ever … herself that she never expected.
“Kelly Rimmer has outdone herself. I thought that Before I Let You Go was one of the best novels I had ever read…If you only have time to read one book this year The Things We Cannot Say should be that book. Keep tissues handy.”—Fresh Fiction
“Fans of The Nightingale and Lilac Girls will adore The Things We Cannot Say.” —Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author
In 1942, Europe remains in the relentless grip of war. Just beyond the tents of the Russian refugee camp she calls home, a young woman speaks her wedding vows. It’s a decision that will alter her destiny…and it’s a lie that will remain buried until the next century.
Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz. Now fifteen and engaged, Alina is unconcerned by reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish border, believing her neighbors that they pose no real threat, and dreams instead of the day Tomasz returns from college in Warsaw so they can be married. But little by little, injustice by brutal injustice, the Nazi occupation takes hold, and Alina’s tiny rural village, its families, are divided by fear and hate.
Then, as the fabric of their lives is slowly picked apart, Tomasz disappears. Where Alina used to measure time between visits from her beloved, now she measures the spaces between hope and despair, waiting for word from Tomasz and avoiding the attentions of the soldiers who patrol her parents’ farm. But for now, even deafening silence is preferable to grief.
Slipping between Nazi-occupied Poland and the frenetic pace of modern life, Kelly Rimmer creates an emotional and finely wrought narrative. The Things We Cannot Say is an unshakable reminder of the devastation when truth is silenced…and how it can take a lifetime to find our voice before we learn to trust it.
Don’t miss Kelly Rimmer’s new and unforgettable novel, The Warsaw Orphan.
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One of the best I have read in a while. I appreciated the point of view; many time we lose sight of how many Polish citizens were killed in WWII.
One of the best books, historical fiction related to WWII that I have read this year.
Makes WW2 history come alive. Also good insight into the reality if loving a child with autism.
C
A great book. I would automatically read anything else this person wrote.
Well written, original story and warm characters.
This book was definitely a page turner. There was so much to learn about the tragic lives of Polish Jews during WW11. The characters were heroes in so many ways that were uplifting in the face of tragedy. An excellent and informative read that I highly recommend.
I couldn’t put it down! It’s a great story with lots of twists and turns you don’t expect, and very well written.
Very interesting & realistic given the world at the time ie WW2. Inspirational & down to earth with family problems, identifiable for a lot of people.
I finished this book several days ago and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s not a romance. It’s a love story. The writing is wonderful and it made me feel (something a lot of books failed to do for me), which is why I cried at the bittersweet climax. Every time I thought about the book after that, I teared up. Those are my favorite kind of story.
It’s simply wonderful when you find a book that is well-written, unpredictable, and speaks directly to your own personal interests! That’s what this book was for me.
Author Kelly Rimmer has skillfully crafted a story that melds together the drama of 1940s Nazi-occupied Poland with the deep emotional connections that can exist among members of one family even when they are not in contact– with the suspense of a mystery. It’s a joy to read.
The two central characters are two formidable women — Alina Dziak and Alice Michaels.
• Alina is a teenager and deeply in love with her sole mate, when Nazis invade her beloved Poland. Despite her parents’ efforts to protect her, Alina slowly comes to recognize the growing menace of the Nazis and how their presence is forever changing the lives of both Jews and non-Jews. Alina comes of age, and discovering what she is capable of, as a direct result of her love, courage and stamina being repeatedly tested. Hers is a story of great romance and sacrifice.
• Alice is a stay-at-home Mom living in Florida, feeling distant from her hard-working husband, intimidated by the formidable brain in her 10 year old daughter, and consumed by the demands and responsibilities of raising a seven-year-old son diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. And, as the book begins, Alice is thrown the added complication of a beloved grandmother in declining health, now making strange, personal demands on Alice’s well-ordered life.
The story unfolds so beautifully that I won’t say more, for fear of spoiling the pleasure of this read. But what this book explores are some of the most universal human themes. As Alina faces death, she urgently needs answers to lingering questions from her past. Alice must wrestle with divided family loyalties — weighing her dedication to her roles as wife and mother against a strong desire to give her dying grandmother a peaceful death. And, in times of war, when people so often must face extreme deprivation and unspeakable loss, how much can they be expected to endure?
This is a deeply emotional, and at times, difficult read. I predict you will cry multiple times. But I found the main sentiments that lingers at the end are respect for the great resiliency human beings possess and a comforting belief in the power of love.
Oh my goodness! I have just spent three days immersed in 1940s Poland in the world of 17 year-old Alina and her fiancé Tomasz who is away at college. Alina’s twin brothers have been sent to a labor camp and Alina’s family’s Jewish neighbors are being taken away by the Germans. In this dual time period novel set in present day United States, Alice and her husband, Wade, are raising two children. Eddie is on the autistic spectrum and is non-verbal. His ten-year-old sister is a high achiever. Alice has put aside her journalistic career to devote her time to Eddie and her daughter. Wade appears to be totally immersed in work and ignoring every day problems of raising an autistic child.
Alice’s beloved ninety-five-year-old Polish grandmother has had a stroke and she cannot talk. Alice’s Grandmother asks, no makes a desperate plea, to Alice to travel to Poland to take some pictures. Alice agrees. This book is a true story of courage, love, and resilience. It is one of the best stories that I have read in a long time. It is also my first Kelly Rimmer novel. You owe it to yourself to find out all the hidden meanings in the title “The Things We Cannot Say.” My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I seem to be reading a lot of historical fiction lately, in particular stories set in the World War 2 era. And I have been loving them all. This time period is so interesting to me.
The Things We Cannot Say takes the reader on an emotional and heartbreaking, but beautiful, story that demonstrates the strength and stamina of the people who lived and loved in those times. I found myself wrapped up in the lives of Alina and Tomasz, feeling their love, their pain at separation, and their dedication to one another, over a whole lifetime.
I loved this story so much and it is one I will not soon forget―a beautiful love story on so many levels, that slowly unfolds as the characters come to realize who and what is important to them. The author truly weaves an amazing story of love and sacrifice.
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
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.
I am not sure where to start, I can say that I absolutely loved this story, I finished it about four hours ago and I am still teary thinking about it and the people that I got to know Alina, Tomasz and Alice and what they went through, MS Rimmer has knocked my socks off with this story, so many emotions and feelings running through the story, I do highly recommend this book, truly it is powerful and beautiful and should not be missed.
Alina and Tomasz grew up together in a small town in Poland, it is 1939 they both knew from an early age that they were meant to be together and Tomasz was going to be a Doctor like his father, he has a younger sister and no mother. Alina lives on a farm with her parents and twin brothers, her older sister lives in town with her husband. Just before Tomasz leaves for Warsaw and college he proposes to Alina and makes a promise to her, but then everything changes as the Nazis invade Poland and their lives will never be the same.
It is now 2019 and Alice and her husband Wade, daughter Callie and their son Eddie who has autism spectrum disorder are coping well living in Florida, that is until her beloved grandmother suffers a stroke, unable to talk she uses Eddie’s I-Pad to beg Alice to find the box of treasures that she has had for many years and take a trip to Poland for her to find what has happened to some of her loved ones.
This is such a moving, powerful and amazing story, MS Rimmer took me back to Nazi occupied Poland and what they went through, she showed me the courage and strength that Alina and Tomasz and many others had, so as they could do what they did, the struggle and the pain but also the love that they had, that lasted a lifetime.
Then there is Alice and her struggles with her family, the love that she has for them and what she was prepared to go through for her Babcia, that trip to Poland was a real eye opener for Alice and the tears I shed just kept coming, the secrets that she uncovered, the truths that were learnt and the depth of love and what the people went through during WW2.
I hope I have done this book the justice it deserves, this is a story that is going to stay with me for a long time to come, it was an emotional journey, very, but it also showed what love strength and courage people have to do what must be done, thank you MS Rimmer for an amazing story, a story that I highly recommend, one that should not be missed.
I very much enjoyed Kelly Rimmer’s book Before I Let You Go, so I was intrigued to read The Things We Cannot Say.
What a hauntingly beautiful and emotional read it was for me.
The past and present are wonderfully woven together as we learn Alina’s story, from occupied Poland in 1942 to the present.
So much bravery. So much resilience, so much rebellion and resistance.
Ms Rimmer had me completely drawn into the story, I could feel the hunger and fear of Alina, Tomasz in Poland, I have been reading more stories set in this time period lately, and I have never felt the emotion in them that I felt with The Things We Cannot Say.
I admit that it was a very emotional read for me. I swear I read the last 50 pages through my tears, as the story came to it’s climax. So have your tissues ready!
It has been a couple of days since I finished this book, and I am still thinking about it, which is a sign of a wonderful story to me.
Beautiful and heartbreaking, this is going to be one of my favourite reads of 2019.
I can’t wait to see what Ms Rimmer brings us next.
Nearly 75 years ago, on 1 September 1939, the Luftwaffe bombed Poland just before the Nazi army invaded. 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.”
For the complete review, go to https://kindredconnection.wordpress.com/2019/03/09/the-things-we-cannot-say/.
A great read for lovers of both historical and contemporary fiction. You won’t be able to put it down.
What a wonderful heartbreaking book. After I finished reading, I just sat there thinking about what I had just read. It is a book that will stay with me forever. This is a dual time line story. Alina’s story is set in Poland before and during World War 2. At first Alina’s life is so wonderful. She is engaged to Tomasz. She lives at home with her parents and twin brothers on a farm. As her story progresses, what Alina and her family are subjected to is absolutely horrible. The other story is Alice’s set in 2019 America. Alice is a wife and mother. She is completely overwhelmed with her special needs son and receives little to no help from her husband. Both stories steal their way into your heart and you must keep reading. The descriptions are so vivid that I see Alina’s farm and I see everything Alice sees when she visits Poland. This is a story about love, family, and overcoming the absolute impossible. I truly loved this book. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Harlequin Graydon House. All opinions are my own.