Review: The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

The Things We Cannot Say

by Kelly Rimmer

Publisher: Graydon House

Pages: 448

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  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.

Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz. Now fifteen and engaged, Alina is unconcerned by reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish border, believing her neighbors that they pose no real threat, and dreams instead of the day Tomasz returns from college in Warsaw so they can be married. But little by little, injustice by brutal injustice, the Nazi occupation takes hold, and Alina’s tiny rural village, its families, are divided by fear and hate. Then, as the fabric of their lives is slowly picked apart, Tomasz disappears. Where Alina used to measure time between visits from her beloved, now she measures the spaces between hope and despair, waiting for word from Tomasz and avoiding the attentions of the soldiers who patrol her parents’ farm. But for now, even deafening silence is preferable to grief. 

Kritters Thoughts:  Another historical fiction that is set during World War II.  This one has a unique setting of Poland and also has a more current storyline to help drive it forward, but this wasn't one of my favorite World War II historicals.  

For me the part that I enjoyed was the unraveling that Alice had to do to help her grandmother find peace in her final days.  I loved the twists and turns that made this historical fiction more of a mystery.  I have to admit to rolling my eyes to the infliction that causes the title and keeps Alice and her grandmother from speaking straight to each other and the fact that they hadn't spoken before, but with fiction, I had to suspend reality and just read the story.

The historical storyline was hard to read.  The devastation that was happening on these farms in Poland and being so close to devastation made me cringe, it was almost a little too graphic and hard to read.  The moments that I enjoyed most were watching Alina's parents resist in the smallest of ways, even in little moments they were trying to resist the German regime and take care of their own.

I like Kelly Rimmer's writing and would absolutely read another book by her.  I just may be overdone on this time period for awhile.


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Graydon House.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.