The Things We Cannot Say

1942 finds Europe still engulfed in the never-ending conflict. A young lady exchanges vows during her wedding, just outside the tents of the Russian refugee camp that she calls home. The choice she makes will change her fate.... it's a deception that won't come to light for another century.

Alina Dziak had known since she was nine years old that she would wed Tomasz, her closest friend. Now fifteen and engaged, Alina ignores news of Nazi forces on the Polish border, thinking her neighbours would never harm them. Instead, she dreams of the day Tomasz comes back from his Warsaw college to tie the knot. But as the Nazi occupation creeps in, harsh injustice after brutal injustice, Alina's little rural hamlet and its residents begin to live in terror and hatred. Then Tomasz vanishes, the fabric of their lives gradually torn apart. Now, instead of counting the seconds between her beloved's visits, Alina counts the moments between hope and sorrow as she waits for Tomasz's message and stays out of the troops' way on her parents' farm. But for now, it's better than sadness, even deafening quiet.

Kelly Rimmer skillfully and emotionally crafts a tale that flits between Nazi-occupied Poland and the hectic pace of contemporary life, interlacing the tales of two women to create a tapestry of tenacity, devotion, love, and honour. The Things We Cannot Say serves as an unwavering reminder of the destruction that results from silencing the truth and how long it might take for us to discover our voice and have the confidence to trust it.