by Adam Rapp
First published 2008
Jake returns to his hometown after years away, carrying the weight of unspoken family history. His grandfather's stories about wartime Europe have always felt distant, almost fictional, but now Jake must face the reality behind the old man's fragmented memories. The family has built their American life on silence, avoiding the darker chapters that brought them here. As Jake digs deeper into his grandfather's past, he discovers connections between historical trauma and his own struggles with identity and belonging. The boundaries between truth and survival blur as three generations grapple with what they owe each other and what they can bear to remember. Jake must decide whether uncovering the full truth will heal his family or destroy what little stability they have left.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Europe, America
Period: Wartime, Present Day
96 pages · Paperback · Broadway Play Publishing