THE THINGS WE CANNOT SAY by Kelly Rimmer

Note: I am not a paid reviewer, and I have purchased this title to read for my personal enjoyment.

Alina marries Tomasz in 1942, and her story unfolds to show that getting to that day is not what it seemed. For Alina is a young peasant woman in Poland, which of course was savagely overrun by the Nazis and later by the Soviets from the other direction. Alina’s first person account captures the community’s sense of nonchalance during the build up to war, which turns to shock as the Nazis quickly bomb then capture Alina’s region in a steely efficient grip. Alina’s family is involved in some of the most moving portrayals of Nazi atrocities I’ve read. Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of the story, for me, is how Ms. Rimmer examines a war survivor’s reluctance to speak of war-time experiences. Without question, untold scores of remarkable WW1 and WW2 experiences were lost to history when soldiers and civilian survivors kept them buried deep inside and just couldn’t open up to family. Alina’s amazing story is revealed through her death-bed exchanges with granddaughter Alice, whose dogged determination to pursue family truths when the walls seem to be caving in on her is memorable. The bonus in this fine historical is a very convincing rendering of tensions in the modern marriage when the home manager and bread-winner spouses fail to appreciate or value the other’s contribution.