Showing results by author "Monica Hesse" in All Categories

Germany, 1945. The soldiers who liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp said the war was over, but nothing feels over to 18-year-old Zofia Lederman. Her body has barely begun to heal; her mind feels broken. And her life is completely shattered: Three years ago, she and her younger brother, Abek, were the only members of their family to be sent to the right, away from the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Everyone else—her parents, her grandmother, radiant Aunt Maja—they went left.

It's 1944, and World War II is raging across Europe and the Pacific. The war seemed far away from Margot in Iowa and Haruko in Colorado—until they were uprooted to dusty Texas, all because of the places their parents once called home: Germany and Japan. Haruko and Margot meet at the high school in Crystal City, a "family internment camp" for those accused of colluding with the enemy. The teens discover that they are polar opposites in so many ways, except for one that seems to override all the others: the camp is changing them, day by day and piece by piece.

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black-market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the front line when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion. But one day Hanneke gets a very unusual request. One of her regular customers asks her to find a girl.

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion.

Shocked by a five-month arson spree that left rural Virginia reeling, Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse drove down to Accomack County to cover the trial of Charlie Smith, who pled guilty to 67 counts of arson. But Charlie wasn't lighting fires alone: he had an accomplice - his girlfriend, Tonya Bundick. Through her depiction of the dangerous shift that happened in their passionate relationship, Hesse brilliantly brings to life the once-thriving coastal community and its distressed inhabitants.

Seven months ago, Edda was on the World War I front lines as one of two hundred “Hello Girls,” female switchboard operators employed by the US Army. She spent her nights memorizing secret connection codes to stay ahead of spying enemies, and her days connecting vital calls between platoons and bases and generals, all trying to survive—and win—a brutal war. Their lives were in Edda’s hands, and one day, in fateful seconds, everything went wrong.

Amsterdam ist von den Nazis besetzt. Hanneke verbringt ihre Tage damit, Schwarzmarktgüter zu beschaffen, ihre Abende damit, ihren besorgten Eltern genau das zu verheimlichen, und jede wache Minute damit, um ihren Freund zu trauern, der an der Front gefallen ist. Ihre illegalen Geschäfte betrachtet sie als kleinen Akt der Rebellion. Aber eines Tages erhält sie einen sehr ungewöhnlichen Auftrag. Eine ihrer Kundinnen bittet sie, ein Mädchen zu finden. Ein jüdisches Mädchen, das aus dem Geheimversteck in ihrem Haus verschwunden ist.

Frühjahr 1945: Das KZ Groß-Rosen ist befreit, und die Soldaten behaupten, der Krieg sei vorbei. Aber für die 18-jährige Zofia Lederman fühlt es sich nicht so an. Ihr ganzes Leben ist in Scherben zerfallen: Vor drei Jahren waren ihr Bruder Abek und sie die Einzigen aus ihrer Familie, die an der Rampe nach rechts geschickt wurden, weg von den Gaskammern von Auschwitz-Birkenau. Alle anderen - ihre Eltern, ihre Großmutter, ihre Tante Maja - mussten nach links gehen. Das Einzige, was Zofia noch am Leben hält, ist die Suche nach ihrem Bruder.

Alemania, 1945. Aunque el campo de concentración de Gross-Rosen fue liberado, para Zofia Lederman las heridas que le dejó la guerra (tanto en su cuerpo como en su mente) no han sanado. Tres años antes, ella y su hermano menor, Abek, fueron los únicos integrantes de su familia a los que enviaron a la derecha; es decir, lejos de las cámaras de gas de Auschwitz-Birkenau. Todos los demás, sus padres, su abuela, su radiante tía se fueron a la izquierda. Antes de que los nazis los separaran, los hermanos alcanzaron a hacerse una promesa....