All the Broken Places: A Novel

Ninety-one-year-old Gretel Fernsby has lived in the same London mansion block for decades, maintaining a quiet, comfortable life despite a deeply disturbing past. She escaped Nazi Germany at age 12 and spent grim post-war years in France with her mother. Most significantly, she does not speak about her father, who was commandant of one of the Reich's most notorious extermination camps. When a new family moves into the apartment below hers, Gretel finds herself drawn into an unexpected friendship with their young son, Henry, though his presence awakens memories she has long tried to suppress. One night, she witnesses a violent argument between Henry's parents that threatens the carefully constructed existence she has maintained. The novel moves between Gretel's girlhood in Germany and her present life in London, following a woman haunted by her past. She now faces a crossroads similar to one from her youth. Decades ago, she denied her own complicity in events. Now, confronted with an opportunity to address her guilt, grief, and remorse, she has the chance to help a young boy—but doing so would require revealing the secrets she has protected her entire life.