They Went Left

This is the first book I have read of Monica's. It's full of intrigue and has many twists and turns. The story covers a period immediately after World War Two, which is not often described. A sense of relief at the end but with a few unanswered questions.

I think this book hit all the feels.

I have not read a book that made me this emotional in years. I was already ugly crying halfway through the book, and once I started part 3 I finished the book in the same night, and the punches just kept coming. I've highlighted so many sections from the book- some beautiful passages & just as many heartbreaking ones. The plot twist I saw coming a mile away, and I one that absolutely knocked me off my feet... This was just an amazing work of art through & through. 100/10 recommend, just have tissues nearby.

This book was amazing. I could not wait to finish it and the ending was very much unexpected. It not only talks about the horrors of what happened AFTER WWII, but touches on the mental anguish that people went through as well as the optimistic attitude that they were somehow able to maintain. Great read!

This novel grips readers right away starting with the last time Zofia saw her brothers live, she thinks. But we learn Zofia can't trust her own mind, so scrambled by torture and loss. Journeying along with her on her quest to figure out how to live now that she survived, I found myself heavily invested in the outcome. I understood the all-consuming desire to find Abec the way Zofia was written. I worried toward the end that everything was wrapping up too neatly but nothing wraps up neatly. The story zigzags past reader expectations and does something new in the crowded WWII historical fiction field. This outcome is much richer for the writer's unexpected choices. Well done!

The story of Zofia and the search for her brother. Heartbreaking and yet so much to learn from her experience. We never realize how strong we really are. Definitely recommend!

I can not begin to find the words to describe this story!! I am an avid reader and I will never forget this book! Hard to put down but more than that, impossible to forget. Highly recommend “They Went Left”. Excellent writing. I liked it even more than “Girl In The Blue Coat “. Both by Monica Hesse

I loved this book! Wish there could be a follow-up where Zofia and Josef find each other again.

I am always drawn to this genre and this one did NOT disappoint! And the ending...WOW!

A great book that shows the life after a horrible war and how families desperately tried to find missed family members. Really good researched and has a great plot! I really recommend it.

The author is so true in the afterword where she says most books about the Holocaust end at liberation but actually there is so much more to the stories of the survivors after the war that we rarely hear. The pain and torment they must have gone through, after distracting themselves so long with the act of staying alive to then be alive but have all of the horrible memories come back with a vengeance, be hidden or replaced, or a combination, is unimaginable - however, this book goes some way to capturing it. Zofia's story is the story of so many, and a story so many more of us cannot fathom. To lose everything and everyone, and then come out of it and hold on to a reason to keep living, most of us have the privilege of not having to experience this, but the importance of listening to those that have resonates throughout this book. The author brings the pain, the joy, the confusion and every other emotion alive, leaving the reader exhausted but it is so worth it!

Very good read. Makes you think.

Loved this, from start to finish. Unbearably sad & heartbreaking.