by Louis Begley
First published 1991
Warsaw has fallen to the Nazis, and young Maciek's sheltered life outside the city crumbles overnight. He escapes with his aunt Tania as German forces sweep across Poland in 1939. The two survivors move constantly, never staying anywhere long enough to feel safe. They adopt new identities and forge papers to match their invented lives. Each document they create becomes another layer in their web of deception. The Nazi war machine presses closer with each passing month. Maciek and Tania know that discovery means death, yet they must interact with strangers, present their false papers, and hope their stories hold up under scrutiny. Their survival depends on maintaining these fabrications while the world burns around them. The weight of constant deception takes its toll as they navigate a landscape where truth has become their enemy.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, identity-deception
Setting: Poland, Warsaw
Period: 1939
208 pages · Hardcover · Alfred A.Knopf
Content warnings: death, war