A Name on the List -

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  • Today, “A name on the list” by Monica Hesse, published on January 14, 2021 by Editions Nathan.

Anne-So “Echos de Mots”, youth blogger and contributor to the

20 Minutes

Books

reading group

, recommends

A name on

 Monica Hesse's

list

, published on January 14, 2021 by Editions Nathan.

From 14 years old.


Her favorite quote:

Birkenau station is the patch of ice on which I slip, the sleeping black monster guarding the door of my memory.

Stir it a little too hard and it will wake up.

If he wakes up, he will devour me.

I walk on a wire, at the edge of my memory.

Even the edge is hell.


Why this book?

  • Because

    A Name on the List

    is an enlightening and heart-wrenching

    novel about the hardships of life after World War II and, particularly, after leaving concentration camps.

    The reader leaves for Poland to meet Zofia, a young woman who made a promise to her little brother while they were on their way to the camps: to find him, no matter what, when the war is over.

  • Because the author, Monica Hesse, wrote several novels about teenagers

    during WWII.

    His pen is very accurate;

    as beautiful as it is impactful.

    In

    One Name on the List

    , her heroine displays strength and determination while being severely psychologically affected by the trials she has gone through.

    Zofia is terribly touching - often lost in the maze of repressed memories - and the author easily plunges the reader into the unsettling whirlwind of her emotions.

  • Because this novel, having been among the New York Times bestsellers

    since its publication, is of real depth while being accessible to young readers.

    Moreover, the post-war period is more rarely put forward in historical novels mentioning the Second World War and Monica Hesse thus enlightens us on the difficulties of rebuilding oneself and of reuniting with relatives after the Liberation.

  • Because

    A Name on the List

    is a very (very, very)

    high quality

    historical novel with a

    touching plot driven by a magnificent heroine.

    This heartbreaking novel about reconstruction is urgently needed in all hands curious to learn more about this terrible time.


The essentials in 2 minutes

The plot.

 Zofia has been shattered by the camps but she is determined to honor the promise made to her younger brother before they are separated by the hell of the camps: whatever happens, she will find him after the war.

Characters.

 The heroine is 18-year-old Zofia Lederman.

Broken by the camps, she will nevertheless show great strength and unwavering determination to find her younger brother, Abek.

During her research, she will meet people that will help her rebuild.

Places.

 The novel takes place from Poland to Germany.

The time.

 The story takes place a few months after the liberation of the camps by the Allies.

The reader meets Zofia on her release from the hospital, as she sets out to find her brother and his past.

The author.

  Monica Hesse is an American author and reporter for the Washington Post.

Renowned for her teenage novels on WWII, it was first published in France in 2015 with

Une fille au manteau bleu

(Gallimard), winner of the Edgar Award for best YA mystery and translated into 12 languages.

This book was read with 

pleasure by Anne-So Echos de Mots, blogger specializing in children's and teenage literature.

“For me, reading can be just as much a personal pleasure in which you run to take refuge as an excuse to discuss and meet other readers.

I am a word lover always interested in new discoveries.

"

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