by Kelly Rimmer
I started reading about life for Polish citizens under the Nazi occupation, initially just trying to imagine what my grandparents might have seen and experienced. But as I read about World War II, I was inspired by so many stories of love and survival, even in the face of unimaginable oppression and cruelty. Tomasz’s, Alina’s and Saul’s story became clear in my mind as I marveled at the way that not even the worst of humanity is powerful enough to stamp out grace or hope or love. I decided that to write this book, I’d need to visit Poland to deepen my research, and while I was there, I’d try to discover some pieces from my own family history.
In 2017, my wonderful aunt Lola and I traveled to Poland and spent several weeks exploring and researching. During those weeks, I discovered that inverse to the story I’d long planned for Alina and her brothers, my own grandmother had been taken for forced labor, while her brother was chosen to remain to work the family farm. And just as I’d planned for Alice, I stood on the patch of land that my grandmother’s family had farmed for generations before the war, and I peered through the dusty window of the house that had been my grandmother’s whole world before Nazi hatred changed her life forever. My aunt and I walked the streets of Trzebinia, where my grandfather was born (image 2), and ate with distant cousins (image 1).
When the time came to use my research to finally write the story, I took my own experiences in Poland and funneled them into this work of fiction. For me, the best fiction always contains threads of the personal. I used my grandmother’s family farm as inspiration for Alina’s (images 3 and 4). That real-life property is located some distance to the northeast of Trzebinia. I have taken liberties with the location and imagined it much closer to the township, because I so wanted to tell the story of that town. It suffered almost every brutal injustice imaginable during wartime—heavy bombing raids, horrific persecution, the eventual genocide of the local Jewish community, oppression of the Catholic community and executions of civic leaders. Real-life Trzebinia is located just nineteen kilometers from the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
I was changed by the experience of connecting with distant roots and having the opportunity to see a little of the world my grandparents knew as their own. And while Alice’s family scenario is so much more difficult than my own, I have tried to write her story in such a way that women of many different family situations can relate to her journey. Wherever it was possible, I drew on my own experiences in Poland to inform the way that Alice experienced hers.
As I finished this book, I found myself right back at the original idea that inspired my research all those years ago. Alina’s decisions in wartime would change the very world her descendants were born into, and her story had the potential to change her descendants’ lives...if only she could find a way to tell it. History’s most important lessons can be difficult to confront and even harder to share—but we are all richer when those lessons persist through generations. Perhaps more than ever, we need the wisdom our forebears gleaned through blood, sweat and more than their share of tears.
I loved researching and writing this story, and I so hope you’ve enjoyed reading it. If you did, I’d be grateful if you could take the time to write a review online. Your review really does make a difference—it helps other readers to find my books.
I also love hearing from readers—if you’d like to get in touch with me, you can also find all my contact details on my website at kellyrimmer.com. You can also sign up for my newsletter to receive a notification when my next book is released.
And finally, it should be noted that although this novel is set around historical events, some changes have been made to timelines and details to simplify the narrative.
Me (right) with my aunt Lola Beavis (left) and our cousin Barbore at her home. Lola traveled with me to assist with my research and translation. (Kelly Rimmer)
Trzebinia Town Square: this location was the inspiration for the scenes where Aleksy and the mayor are executed. (Kelly Rimmer)
This humble house at Wola Z˙ydowska was my grandmother’s family home, and the inspiration for Alina’s family property. (Kelly Rimmer)
The house itself is abandoned, however my cousins live nearby and still farm parts of the land for produce for their families. (Kelly Rimmer)
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Which characters in this book were your favorites? Why? Alina and Alice narrate the story—but is there another character you wish you could have heard from directly?
Were you more engaged in Alina’s story or Alice’s? Why? Were you satisfied with how the two story threads came together?
Alina lives a relatively sheltered life. How is her behavior shaped by her family’s attitude toward her? How does she change over the course of the story?
Alina, Julita and Alice are all very different women within the same family, although each has a unique approach to how she raises her children. Do you think there’s a relationship between how each woman approaches motherhood, or do circumstance and personality play a larger role here?
Why do you think Wade held himself at such a distance from Eddie? Why did this damage his relationship with Alice so much? And why did Wade and Eddie’s relationship change when Alice was away?
Tomasz was coerced to serve in the Wehrmacht and, in doing so, inadvertently played a role in one of the most horrific chapters in human history. How did this decision change the course of his life and the life of his descendants?
What do you think Tomasz should have done, when faced with the pressure to comply with the Nazi agenda? Do you think he redeemed himself once he deserted the Wehrmacht, or are some acts unforgivable?
Do you think Tomasz ever intended to follow Alina, or did he know all along that he’d need to turn himself in after she left with Saul? And if Tomasz had escaped to safety with Alina, would he have been able to leave his guilt behind?
Take a moment to reflect on your own family’s story. Do you know much about your grandparents’ early lives? How have your grandparents’ decisions in their youth affected your life? What questions do you wish you could (or would like to) ask them about their younger years?
Did you learn anything new as you read this book, and if so, what was it?
Which scene in The Things We Cannot Say affected you the most, and why? What emotions did that scene elicit?
Were you satisfied with the ending? Did the story end as you expected, or did you envision a different resolution for Alice or for Alina?
What will you remember most about The Things We Cannot Say?
ISBN-13: 9781488096785
The Things We Cannot Say
Copyright © 2019 by Lantana Management Pty Ltd
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com