(4.5⭐️ rounded up) This poignant story breaks your heart and then reminds you of the resilience of love and the human spirit. Alina lives in war torn Poland in 1941. She’s young and wide eyed, not yet aware of the depth of sorrow she would face and the gravity of the decisions she would make that would impact her and her descendants. Alice lives in modern day Florida and is flailing through life as a stay at home mom in a struggling marriage when her grandmother has a stroke and entrusts her with a dying wish. This powerful book is about loss, love, resiliency, and learning to live life to the fullest even when it’s hard. If you need a reminder that life is indeed beautiful no matter what the circumstances are, this is your book. 

I’d also add that we visited Krakow over Thanksgiving 2010. Rimmer’s beautiful descriptions of Poland returned me to that trip and the landscape like she had sent me through a time capsule.