They Went Left

1945 in Germany. The war was declared over by the soldiers who freed the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, but for eighteen-year-old Zofia Lederman, nothing feels over. Her mind feels damaged, and her body has barely started to mend. And she has lost everything in her life: She and her younger brother, Abek, were the only family members taken to the right, away from Auschwitz-Birkenau's death chambers, three years ago. Everyone else—her grandparents, parents, and gorgeous Aunt Maja—went to the left.

In her final words to her brother, Zofia made a vow: "A to Z, Abek to Zofia." We'll finish our alphabet when I locate you once more. Now, on her quest to keep her promise, she travels through Germany and Poland and stays at a camp for internally displaced people where everyone she encounters is attempting to rebuild their lives after a traumatic past: Desperate to find her twin after they survived medical testing, Miriam set out to find him. Former heiress Breine is now content to wish for a straightforward nuptial ceremony with her new partner. And Josef, who is simultaneously gorgeous, odd, and captivating while concealing his background behind a wall of secrets.

However, Zofia's pursuit appears increasingly unattainable the further she goes. In a sea of lost people, how can she find one boy? In the ruins of a shattered continent, Zofia is forced to investigate a mystery whose solutions could either destroy her or aid in her world's reconstruction.