Admittedly, I haven't read a ton of books from the Polish perspective, much less from a devout Catholic protagonist; the Holocaust was definitely present within the book (Alina lived down the road from Auschwitz-Birkenau), but it wasn’t described in full. One of the key tenets of Alina’s character is that she is babied by the adults in her life, so she’s not sure what’s happening over there…or with the Resistance…or to Jews….until a man explains it to her. Yes, this is a big pet peeve of mine, can you tell?

The main characters are Alina, a young woman when WWII breaks out, and Alice, a mother in the US. Like many historical fiction books, this one features a present-day storyline and alternates with one from the past. Usually, I enjoy the past/historical timeline much more. In this book, however, I found both storylines compelling and engaging. Review: I have to admit, just by looking at the book and reading the title, I thought that I had already read this book. I read a fair amount of historical fiction, as you guys know, and nothing about the cover of this book made it stand out in my mind. That was an blind spot on my part — well like 90% of my fault, the other 10% goes to book cover designers that keep making books about women at wartime that look the same — but I am so glad that I have rectified it. So, all in all, there were many things about the story that irritated me, some things I liked, but I still stayed up reading it way past my bed time, because I did want to see what happened in the end, even though I kind of predicted it. I think this novel will appeal to a lot of people, I just needed something a little meatier, a little less romance, and a little more depth for myself. The two stories connect, and things reach an emotional summit during the trip to Poland. I recommend a box of tissues for the end of this book as the author totally engaged me in the fate of these characters. If you like historical fiction, read this book as soon as you can! I simply adored it and these characters will stay with me for a long time!Alina and Tomasz, living with their families in the small town of Trzebinia in Poland, each knew they would be together forever. Before Tomasz left for college in Warsaw, he proposed to Alina and their families were delighted. But then the Nazis descended on the village and immediately lives changed and horror, cruelty and death arrived. Alina had no idea if Tomasz was alright; whether the war had even hit Warsaw – her heartache and worry was constant. War breaks us down to nothing more than our most selfish will to survive— but when we rise above that instinct, miracles can still happen. Kelly Rimmer knows how to write dual timeline stories. I was hooked on both narrators and their lives. As with all of her books, The Things We Cannot Say is powerful, epic, and so emotional. It’s full of love, loyalty, steadfastness, and hope. It’s about how silence can devastate and takes years or generations from which to heal.

The title gives us a clue that something kept secret in this family. But this poetically written, heartwarming, amazing story is not about the family secrets , it’s about the words we keep inside and it’s about the emotions we hide. It’s about the reconnection of the family by reaching their roots and discovering their ancestors and an epic, unconditional, never ending love story defeats the time, dead and war.Life has a way of shattering our expectations, of leaving our hopes in pieces without explanation. But when there’s love in a family, the fragments left behind from our shattered dreams can always be pulled together again, even if the end result is a mosaic. This is another dual story timeline — Alina, a Polish teenager living through the early days of the Nazi invasion and subjugation of her country, and Alice, a stay-at-home mom in Florida with a gifted daughter, a severely autistic son, and a distant husband. At the start of the novel, Alice’s Babcia Hanna has a massive stroke and is hospitalized; Babcia isn’t able to communicate well, and she keeps repeating a variation of “Babcia fire Tomasz Poland” to the bafflement of her daughter (who is a workaholic judge) and Alice. Ultimately, it becomes clear that she wants Alice to return to her hometown to solve some sort of mystery — yes, yes, I’m totally summarizing this, but I don’t want to give away too many details. We are spoiler free over here, but I don’t think it’s hard to realize that Alina is Hanna; that’s not the twist — the twist comes to be how did she get to Florida in 1943. In the present day, Alice is a stressed-out wife and mother of two children—a precocious daughter and a nonverbal autistic son. Although she is married, she might as well be a single mother, as her husband is not an involved parent, choosing to occupy himself with work rather than bond with the children. In the meantime, Alice’s Babcia (grandmother) has had a stroke and cannot communicate verbally, but using her grandson’s voice-assisted app, she transmits urgent messages to her granddaughter: Find Tomasz and Babcia fire Tomasz. Although she does not understand Babcia’s command or what she’s even supposed to be looking for, Alice travels to Poland to help unravel a decades-old family mystery, while simultaneously seeking healing and solace for her own broken life. The story comes together in an emotional and powerful ending that will surely have you reaching for tissues. After reading this one we were left a mess, cried a bit and then shared our thoughts with each other. This is the type of story to share with someone and I am glad to be able to share with Lindsay and a couple of our Traveling Sisters. This book about finding yourself, taking risks, making sacrifices, reaching to your inner strengths, looking at your life from different perspective, fighting for your own beliefs till the end and true love stands still no matter life throws the toughest obstacles in the lovers’ way.

I also liked the narrative style, with the two separate voices: Alina’s voice recounting her life and the events she lived through in Poland after the German invasion, and Alice’s present day voice as she navigates through her own life and then an unexpected trip to Poland. Kelly Rimmer is also a great writer, and she creates a wonderful vision of the little town in Poland, life under occupation, and also Polish farm life. In the present (2019) Alice is dealing with her own crisis. Her dear babcia (grandmother) has had a stroke. Her son, Eddie who is the autism spectrum and communicates with an AAC app, is having a meltdown in the aisle of the store due to a yogurt label changed. Her daughter is a genius who needs constant stimuli and her husband is far from helpful with her son. After they arrive at the Russian-occupied zone, Alina discovers she is pregnant. Consequently, Saul and Alina decide to marry each other under false identities to prevent social stigma. They accompany British agents to England and eventually make their way to the United States where their daughter Julita is born. They live as friends without consummating the marriage for over fifty years until Saul dies. Julita grows up unaware of her true heritage and eventually has her own child, Alice. Alina and Tomasz’s story and what is happening with the Nazi occupation and the affect on the town and these families is heartbreaking . Even though the camps and what is happening there is at a distance, the reader is not spared the horrific affects on the family, on the Jews around them. What happened in Alice’s grandmother’s past is something that she has not been able to bring herself to share until she is close to dying. Alice recognizes the importance of knowing the story. “What happens when stories like these are lost? What happens when there’s no one left to pass your experience on to, or you just can’t bring yourself to share it ?” I have often thought about how few Holocaust survivors are left. Synopsis: In 1942, Europe remains in the relentless grip of war. Just beyond the tents of the Russian refugee camp she calls home, a young woman speaks her wedding vows. It’s a decision that will alter her destiny…and it’s a lie that will remain buried until the next century.love, loss, family, relationships, autism, sacrifice, poverty, fears, horrors of the war, heartbreaking, heartwarming,

The characters are well drawn by Ms. Rimmer, and although the two protagonists, Alina and Alice, have their less than admirable moments, I loved them both. I must say though that Alina must hold the world’s record for shedding the most tears of any other fictional character in history! After reading this book, one cannot help but compare the terrible invasion of Poland in 1939 with the senseless invasion taking place in Ukraine today. Perhaps that is why Poland is so ready to assist the refugees pouring into its country today, because the memory of what happened so long ago is still in everyone's mind. Alina’s narration describes her separation from Tomasz because he was away at college when the war started. When he returned to Alina, he was in hiding because he was helping to support Saul and Eva Weiss, a young Jewish couple and their infant daughter. They had helped Tomasz escape from his conscription into the German army so Tomasz believed he owed them any help he could give them. The couple is betrayed on the night Alina and Tomasz had arranged to escape from Poland. They were going to transport a canister of film showing the atrocities taking place at Auschwitz in exchange for their freedom. Saul’s daughter and wife were killed, but he was left alive. Tomasz decided to send Saul in his place, using his identification papers, to protect Saul. He told Alina he had to warn his family they were in danger and promised he would catch up with her when he could.

I adored the last Kelly Rimmer book that I read -- “Before I Let You Go” – also a 5-star read for me. I really want to read her earlier books. This is a favorite author of mine now. Kelly Rimmer has raised the already high bar with this unforgettable novel. Fans of Jodi Picoult and Kristin Hannah now have a new go-to author." Bestselling author Sally Hepworth The plot was interesting, but a little slow at times. Also, the progression sometimes felt forced and not organic. But the slowness and the rough parts were small and did not detract from my enjoyment of the book. Thankfully there were not too many coincidences . . . coincidences have tainted other books like this for me before. Alina and Tomasz are childhood sweethearts. The night before he leaves for university in Warsaw, he proposes to her. But when her village of Trzebinia falls into Nazi hands, Alina doesn't know whether Tomasz is dead or alive.