The Things We Cannot Say

Kelly Rimmer

Historical fictions are one of my favorite genres in any form (movies, series, books), and I’ve read a lot that take place during WWII. This is one of the best.

Set in Poland at the beginning of the occupation, I couldn’t put down The Things We Cannot Say. Told from the perspective of a young woman in occupied Poland and the perspective of a mother in modern-day Florida. While reading of the unspeakable things that the Polish girl endured and discovering the complicated life of the Florida mother whose child is on the autism spectrum, you eventually learn how their two stories intertwine.

Yes, there will be tears, lots of them. But that may be one of the best reasons there is to consume historical fiction, we cannot let the tragedies of the past be repeated in the future. Especially with what is happening in today’s current environment, I feel this in my bones.

I knew with absolute certainty that small problems in a country can become immense tragedies when left unchecked. It started small in Germany. It even started small in Poland, long before the occupation. It started with a small group of people harassing and vandalizing and desecrating, and it ended with trainloads of my countrymen shipped to furnaces and dumped into a river.

The Things We Cannot Say

I am: Obsessed