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The Silent Child: The gripping, heart-breaking and poignant historical novel set during WWII
SHE CAN'T HAVE A FUTURE UNTIL SHE HAS A PAST.
1944
LEO STERN arrives at the Nazi camp at Borek with his wife Irena and his two daughters. The Sterns are spared from the gas chamber when they witness a murder. But in a place that humanity has deserted, Leo is forced to make unimaginable choices to try to keep his family alive.
1961
For seventeen years, Hanna has been unable to remember her identity and how she was separated from her family at the end of the war, until the discovery of a letter among her late uncle's possessions reveals her real name - HANNA STERN - and leads her to Berlin in search of her lost past.
Helped by former lover Peter, Hanna begins to piece together the shocking final days of Borek. But Hanna isn't the only one with an interest in the camp, and lurking in the shadows is someone who would prefer Hanna's history to remain silent.
Based on in-depth research and beautifully written, this a novel of memory and identity, and the long shadow of war.
1944
LEO STERN arrives at the Nazi camp at Borek with his wife Irena and his two daughters. The Sterns are spared from the gas chamber when they witness a murder. But in a place that humanity has deserted, Leo is forced to make unimaginable choices to try to keep his family alive.
1961
For seventeen years, Hanna has been unable to remember her identity and how she was separated from her family at the end of the war, until the discovery of a letter among her late uncle's possessions reveals her real name - HANNA STERN - and leads her to Berlin in search of her lost past.
Helped by former lover Peter, Hanna begins to piece together the shocking final days of Borek. But Hanna isn't the only one with an interest in the camp, and lurking in the shadows is someone who would prefer Hanna's history to remain silent.
Based on in-depth research and beautifully written, this a novel of memory and identity, and the long shadow of war.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
493 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 14, 2022
39 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 15, 2023
This is very different to my usual style of book and pushed me well out of my comfort zone.
It was a long read for me and I spent a lot of time looking up unfamiliar words. I didn’t do history at school, so I used this as an opportunity to learn about the war terminology and found it very interesting.
How utterly devastating though, that this sort of thing happened so very recently in our history.
I thought this was very well written, I loved the story and the characters were believable and likeable, especially Hanna and her father.
I liked the multi point of view and the switching from present and past.
There were lots of twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting in this book and I found myself not being able to put down certain chapters.
This would make a great film!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my copy.
It was a long read for me and I spent a lot of time looking up unfamiliar words. I didn’t do history at school, so I used this as an opportunity to learn about the war terminology and found it very interesting.
How utterly devastating though, that this sort of thing happened so very recently in our history.
I thought this was very well written, I loved the story and the characters were believable and likeable, especially Hanna and her father.
I liked the multi point of view and the switching from present and past.
There were lots of twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting in this book and I found myself not being able to put down certain chapters.
This would make a great film!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my copy.
March 26, 2022
Any book that is based on WWII and Holocaust will catch my eye and I was over the moon when I got this ARC.
This is actually an unusual setting which I actually enjoyed reading.
In 1941, Leo Stern arrives to the camp with his wife Irena and their two children. In order to survive he was forced to do unimaginable things in order to survive his family.
In 1961, Hanna wants to find her real identity and while going through her uncle's possession, she finds that she is Hanna Stern. Along with her friend Peter, they travel to Berlin to find the truth about Hanna's family but there's someone who didnt want her to find the truth.
I was actually engrossed into the story. What interested me most in the story was background of WWII and the Holocaust--the brutal treatment of Jews by the Nazis in the camps was too unbearable and emotional to read that at times, you still couldn't believe that these things did happen in real life. I am guessing the present day is mostly based on Nuremberg trials when the Nazi soldiers were put on trial for their crimes but maybe I was wrong. The past, set in 1940's was the one that was heartbreaking and emotional to read. The author has done tremendous research about the war, the conditions of the camps, the brutal treatment of Jews by the Nazis and did a good job of drawing the reader into the story. I actually enjoyed reading this book and was glad I requested the ARC!
Overall, if you love a historical fiction with an emotional and heartbreaking story that will bring tears, then this book is one for you--worth five stars!
Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.
This is actually an unusual setting which I actually enjoyed reading.
In 1941, Leo Stern arrives to the camp with his wife Irena and their two children. In order to survive he was forced to do unimaginable things in order to survive his family.
In 1961, Hanna wants to find her real identity and while going through her uncle's possession, she finds that she is Hanna Stern. Along with her friend Peter, they travel to Berlin to find the truth about Hanna's family but there's someone who didnt want her to find the truth.
I was actually engrossed into the story. What interested me most in the story was background of WWII and the Holocaust--the brutal treatment of Jews by the Nazis in the camps was too unbearable and emotional to read that at times, you still couldn't believe that these things did happen in real life. I am guessing the present day is mostly based on Nuremberg trials when the Nazi soldiers were put on trial for their crimes but maybe I was wrong. The past, set in 1940's was the one that was heartbreaking and emotional to read. The author has done tremendous research about the war, the conditions of the camps, the brutal treatment of Jews by the Nazis and did a good job of drawing the reader into the story. I actually enjoyed reading this book and was glad I requested the ARC!
Overall, if you love a historical fiction with an emotional and heartbreaking story that will bring tears, then this book is one for you--worth five stars!
Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.
April 30, 2024
Very moving account of the persecuted Jews during ww2
April 25, 2022
I’m always attracted to books that are set in WWII, and this was no exception. Set in dual time lines of 1944 and 1961, it follows Leo Stern and his family when they are taken to a concentration camp and then the search by Hanna Stern to try to find out what happened to her family during that time, and after. It’s beautifully written, with a story that draws you in so quickly, it’s very well researched and heartbreaking realistic. A book I wanted and needed to finish. The sort of book everyone should read. The most compelling book I’ve read this year.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
February 27, 2022
This book was such a beautifully written book that will stay with me for a long time. The story;ine was emotive and heartwrenching and the characters were well developed and have a special place in my heart. I didnt want this book to end. nothing i could say would do this book justice, I cannot recommend this book enough
June 25, 2023
Fascinating in concept with good narration. But the narrative shrinks to pages and pages of slow conversation and the mystery faded for me
September 3, 2023
I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting when I started reading this book. I mean, I'd read the blurb (for a change) so knew the basic premise, but as I don't read a lot of historical literature, or certainly not stories set around World War II, it really was a large step away from my typical genre preferences. What I found was a book which drew me in from the very start, intrigued by the way the author had set up the story and wanting to know more about what had happened to lead to the situation we find one of our key protagonists in. Hanna, a young child, separated from her family, is driven miles away from everything she has known and is left with a family, we soon find out, she knows nothing of. Finding out about her past is as much a voyage of discovery for Hanna as it is readers, and as we come to learn, her past is as heartbreaking as it is harrowing.
Whilst this is a story set both during and after the war, it is not entirely a story of the war. The author has drawn upon the atrocities visited upon Jewish people during the holocaust, but has deliberately set the story in a fictional camp to avoid the risk of taking anything from any of the victims of this brutal part of history. That doesn't mean that the story is any less poignant or emotional. What happens to the Stern family and their friends and neighbours is grounded in an horrific truth, and whilst sparing readers from anything gratuitous, the author leaves us in no doubt as to what has happened. The treatment, the degradation, suffered by the victims, children included, is truly heartbreaking, leaving me with a true sense of injustice and anger.
The author has framed the story perfectly. Whilst half of the book covers Hanna's attempts to discover what really happened to her family, the other half serves to enlighten readers as to what happened in those fateful final days of Borek. Events in 1944 occur just before the 'emancipation' of the Borek camp. Saved from an almost certain death due to a quirk of fate, Leo Stern and his family are offered only a temporary reprieve, but it comes at a cost. The scenes at Borek are heartbreaking and quite intense, demonstrating that there were many more victims of the war than just those who perished in the different concentration camps. The author explores the complexity of war, and whilst some facts are undeniable and the brutality unjustifiable, nothing is ever as simple as it appears and the duplicity of some characters, the way in which their version of the truth twists our understanding of what is happening, is very effective.
Taking in Hanna's part in this story, you need to look at the context of the time in which she is searching for her family. Whilst the war may be over, the political situation in Berlin remains tense, a very different kind of authoritarianism creating divisions which are potentially as deadly as any formal act of war. The secret to her father's past, and by extension, her own, lies in the East, and the author carefully portrays the very different life that is lived in the Soviet governed half of the city compared to the freedom and excess of the west. There is a real sense of tension and unease as she and her friend and former lover, Peter, try to track down any clues to her past, and these scenes really did keep me on the edge of the seat. The pacing here was perfect, the adrenalin beginning to spike as the risks they take really do push the tension to the max.
Combining and intertwining past and present as the author has really drew me into the novel in an almost hypnotic way. I wanted, or maybe needed, to learn more, to uncover the secrets of the past. To understand the tragedies that led to Hanna's almost desertion as a young child. I wasn't prepared for what I read though, left blindsided as the author finally revealed the tragic truth of the past. There were so many times that I could almost feel myself holding my breath, feel the emotion welling up within me, that whilst I wanted to read on, there were times when I really needed to take a moment just to reflect on the horrors which are a part of our all to recent past.
JG Kelly has a beautiful way with words, capturing not just the brutality of war, but creating characters who I really cared about. People whose pride, quiet dignity and inner strength really hit home, amplifying the sense of loss that came with what seemed to be an inevitable end. And yet, on occasion it was clear that nothing was quite as it seemed, and many characters left me feeling conflicted, unsure as to whether I should simply hate them, or feel a small amount of compassion for the impossible situation everyone found themselves in. But the story, despite some unexpected turns, felt plausible but impossibly tragic.
It's hard to expect a happy ending in this kind of story, and whether Hanna found her truth or not you should read for yourselves. This is certainly a book which stayed with me for a while after the final page was turned of which certain scenes are with me still. Tense, sometimes brutal, laced with mystery and misdirection, if you like historical novels then I would definitely recommend this book.
Whilst this is a story set both during and after the war, it is not entirely a story of the war. The author has drawn upon the atrocities visited upon Jewish people during the holocaust, but has deliberately set the story in a fictional camp to avoid the risk of taking anything from any of the victims of this brutal part of history. That doesn't mean that the story is any less poignant or emotional. What happens to the Stern family and their friends and neighbours is grounded in an horrific truth, and whilst sparing readers from anything gratuitous, the author leaves us in no doubt as to what has happened. The treatment, the degradation, suffered by the victims, children included, is truly heartbreaking, leaving me with a true sense of injustice and anger.
The author has framed the story perfectly. Whilst half of the book covers Hanna's attempts to discover what really happened to her family, the other half serves to enlighten readers as to what happened in those fateful final days of Borek. Events in 1944 occur just before the 'emancipation' of the Borek camp. Saved from an almost certain death due to a quirk of fate, Leo Stern and his family are offered only a temporary reprieve, but it comes at a cost. The scenes at Borek are heartbreaking and quite intense, demonstrating that there were many more victims of the war than just those who perished in the different concentration camps. The author explores the complexity of war, and whilst some facts are undeniable and the brutality unjustifiable, nothing is ever as simple as it appears and the duplicity of some characters, the way in which their version of the truth twists our understanding of what is happening, is very effective.
Taking in Hanna's part in this story, you need to look at the context of the time in which she is searching for her family. Whilst the war may be over, the political situation in Berlin remains tense, a very different kind of authoritarianism creating divisions which are potentially as deadly as any formal act of war. The secret to her father's past, and by extension, her own, lies in the East, and the author carefully portrays the very different life that is lived in the Soviet governed half of the city compared to the freedom and excess of the west. There is a real sense of tension and unease as she and her friend and former lover, Peter, try to track down any clues to her past, and these scenes really did keep me on the edge of the seat. The pacing here was perfect, the adrenalin beginning to spike as the risks they take really do push the tension to the max.
Combining and intertwining past and present as the author has really drew me into the novel in an almost hypnotic way. I wanted, or maybe needed, to learn more, to uncover the secrets of the past. To understand the tragedies that led to Hanna's almost desertion as a young child. I wasn't prepared for what I read though, left blindsided as the author finally revealed the tragic truth of the past. There were so many times that I could almost feel myself holding my breath, feel the emotion welling up within me, that whilst I wanted to read on, there were times when I really needed to take a moment just to reflect on the horrors which are a part of our all to recent past.
JG Kelly has a beautiful way with words, capturing not just the brutality of war, but creating characters who I really cared about. People whose pride, quiet dignity and inner strength really hit home, amplifying the sense of loss that came with what seemed to be an inevitable end. And yet, on occasion it was clear that nothing was quite as it seemed, and many characters left me feeling conflicted, unsure as to whether I should simply hate them, or feel a small amount of compassion for the impossible situation everyone found themselves in. But the story, despite some unexpected turns, felt plausible but impossibly tragic.
It's hard to expect a happy ending in this kind of story, and whether Hanna found her truth or not you should read for yourselves. This is certainly a book which stayed with me for a while after the final page was turned of which certain scenes are with me still. Tense, sometimes brutal, laced with mystery and misdirection, if you like historical novels then I would definitely recommend this book.
September 6, 2022
The book starts in 1945 with Hanna, a young child ,seated alone on the back seat of a car on the way to Cambridgeshire.
She has no memory of her family or her past.
The book moves between 1944 and 1961.
Dr Leo Stern and his family arrive at Borek,Nazi camp and are spared the gas chamber when they witness the murder of a German officer called Keuper, who it turns out is from their home town and the Sterns were friendly with his family as Leo was their Doctor.
Keuper ,before he is killed questions Stern about a secret from his home town but Stern does not understand what he means. The book then reveal's the secret slowly, however it also appears that the officer Meyer who killed Keuper also has a secret which is slowly revealed.
Leo is then involved in a court case which has Meyer on trial for killing a fellow officer but not on trial for killing Jews at all. This is how the Germans work. They even take the name of the person each time who operates the gas chamber, all efficient.
In 1961, Hanna travels to Berlin as she wants to try and find out what happened to her family and how she came into possession of a chess piece with a message that her father is alive. She needs to find out how she escaped the camp and what happened. However Berlin is split into different sections and the Soviets are not happy with their arrival and Hanna could be in danger.
The descriptions of life in the camp are heartbreaking, however how Dr Stern escapes the chamber is a strange tale, full of twists and turns.
Also the descriptions of Berlin post war are very well done and you can feel the tension.
We will Hannah on for a happy ending ,however the ending is a very mixed one.
There is a shocking twist too.
I recommend this book, if you are interested in history and great descriptions of places and people but also absorbing and immersive reads.
She has no memory of her family or her past.
The book moves between 1944 and 1961.
Dr Leo Stern and his family arrive at Borek,Nazi camp and are spared the gas chamber when they witness the murder of a German officer called Keuper, who it turns out is from their home town and the Sterns were friendly with his family as Leo was their Doctor.
Keuper ,before he is killed questions Stern about a secret from his home town but Stern does not understand what he means. The book then reveal's the secret slowly, however it also appears that the officer Meyer who killed Keuper also has a secret which is slowly revealed.
Leo is then involved in a court case which has Meyer on trial for killing a fellow officer but not on trial for killing Jews at all. This is how the Germans work. They even take the name of the person each time who operates the gas chamber, all efficient.
In 1961, Hanna travels to Berlin as she wants to try and find out what happened to her family and how she came into possession of a chess piece with a message that her father is alive. She needs to find out how she escaped the camp and what happened. However Berlin is split into different sections and the Soviets are not happy with their arrival and Hanna could be in danger.
The descriptions of life in the camp are heartbreaking, however how Dr Stern escapes the chamber is a strange tale, full of twists and turns.
Also the descriptions of Berlin post war are very well done and you can feel the tension.
We will Hannah on for a happy ending ,however the ending is a very mixed one.
There is a shocking twist too.
I recommend this book, if you are interested in history and great descriptions of places and people but also absorbing and immersive reads.
December 8, 2023
J.G. Kelly's "The Silent Child" blends wartime sorrow with the deep search for identity and belonging. The novel's brutal honesty and heartbreaking story. Kelly's compelling story spans 1944 and 1961, following the Stern family's terrifying experience and Hanna Stern's search for her history. The wonderfully presented characters defy expectations and leave a lasting impression on the reader.
The author's thorough research is visible from Cambridgeshire's Fenlands to wartime Poland's ghost-filled woodlands and Cold War Berlin. The book examines the war's aftermath, memory, identity, and historical trauma.
Kelly writes well, generating situations that stay with readers after the book is completed. The narrative is heartbreaking and has well-developed characters that touch readers. The work is a page-turner and a riveting examination of human spirit under darkness.
The author's thorough research is visible from Cambridgeshire's Fenlands to wartime Poland's ghost-filled woodlands and Cold War Berlin. The book examines the war's aftermath, memory, identity, and historical trauma.
Kelly writes well, generating situations that stay with readers after the book is completed. The narrative is heartbreaking and has well-developed characters that touch readers. The work is a page-turner and a riveting examination of human spirit under darkness.
July 24, 2022
Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the arc of The silent child by J.G Kelly.
5 star read- it was immensely a great read very emotional and heart wrenching over two time period then 1944 in a Nazi Camp Borek and present time 1961.. Very quick read but an amazing one and well written had my heart strings going!
5 star read- it was immensely a great read very emotional and heart wrenching over two time period then 1944 in a Nazi Camp Borek and present time 1961.. Very quick read but an amazing one and well written had my heart strings going!
December 4, 2022
This was a page turner - I found hard to put down!
A very harrowing story about a Jewish family in 1944 and a child of that family in 1961 who could not remember any of her past and her search for answers about that past.
Some of it I found a little hard to believe - the coincidences and behaviours of some of the characters but overall a story that kept me engrossed till the end.
A very harrowing story about a Jewish family in 1944 and a child of that family in 1961 who could not remember any of her past and her search for answers about that past.
Some of it I found a little hard to believe - the coincidences and behaviours of some of the characters but overall a story that kept me engrossed till the end.
November 22, 2022
My favourite read is a story of WW1/WW11 and this book was a beautifully written and well researched story of a before and after of one family separated after being taken to a concentration camp and later the search by one daughter to trace the rest of her family. Heartbreaking and hopeful
November 1, 2023
Tough going but I needed to reach the end. Moving story.
March 3, 2024
She doesn’t remember her past at a Nazi camp at the very end of it closing. Follow her journey as she attempts to build her memory of the time and the family she had and what happened.
April 15, 2024
A powerful novel of devastating secrets..... Heartstopping and so moving in its emotional impact on me.
Read it.... You won't be disappointed
Read it.... You won't be disappointed
May 19, 2024
The storyline became a bit confusing in some parts but a very moving book that delves into the emotions and subjective aspects of the Holocaust from victim and perpetrators. Very interesting.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews