The Warsaw Orphan

Rimmer’s gripping latest (after Truths I Never Told You) captures the harrowing risks faced by two teenagers whose families live on opposite sides of the Warsaw Ghetto wall in Nazi-occupied Poland. In 1942, 16-year-old Roman Gorka has survived almost two years in the ghetto with his parents, younger brother, and three other families crowded into their apartment. His new baby sister, Eleonora, complicates matters, and Roman, who works a factory job, struggles to feed the family. Meanwhile Elzbieta Rabinek, 14, has moved to Warsaw with her adopted parents and uncle to an apartment nearby. Elzbieta soon becomes involved in smuggling Jewish children out of the ghetto and offers to do the same for Eleonora. The family agrees once the Germans begin the daily deportations from the ghetto and rumors circulate of mass slaughter. As the story unfolds, with Roman caught up in the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, he forms a close bond with Elzbieta. Rimmer does a great job of bringing WWII Warsaw to life, particularly the clandestine efforts of nurses to rescue Jewish children. There’s no shortage of novels that travel similar terrain, but this one easily stands on its own. Agent: Amy Tannenbaum, Jane Rotrosen Agency, LLC. (June)