Estranged from her family since just after World War II, Mary Browning has spent her entire adult life hiding from her Jewish heritage. Now eighty-seven years old and a widow, she is haunted by a lifetime of secrets and fading memories of the family she left behind. Her one outlet is the writing group she's presided over for a decade, but when a new member walks in--a fifteen year old girl who …
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed forever when she picks up a single object, abandoned in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook. So begins Liesel's love affair with books and words. But when Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, nothing will ever be the same again.