It’s Paris, 1944; Jean-Luc and Charlotte meet and fall in love. Fast forward to 1950s California, they are happily married and raising their son. Then comes a knock at their door and their carefully planned life is torn apart.

It’s Paris, 1944; Sarah and David are looking forward to the birth of their first child. Their lives are also about to be shattered.

It’s the end but also the beginning. But whose future is changed for ever? And can it ever be mended?

After a slow start it developes into absolutely stunning first novel drawing on the personal memories of some of those who lived through the occupation of Paris and the horrors of Auschwitz, and who know at first hand what people will do to survive and how they learn to deal with the memories.

As Victor Hugo says in Les Miserables, “Let us sacrifice one day to gain perhaps a whole life”