The Winter Guest

A stirring novel about the tumult of first love in a time of war and the unbearable choices that could tear sisters apart, from the celebrated author of The Kommandant's Girl

Life is a constant struggle for the impoverished eighteen-year-old Nowak twins as they raise their three young siblings in rural Poland under the shadow of the Nazi occupation. The constant threat of arrest for even the most minor infraction has made everyone in their village a spy, and turned neighbor against neighbor. Though rugged, independent Helena and pretty, gentle Ruth couldn't be more different, they are staunch allies in protecting their family from the threats and hardships the war brings closer to their doorstep with each passing day.

Then Helena discovers an Allied paratrooper stranded outside their small mountain village, wounded, but alive. Risking the safety of herself and her family, she hides Sam—a Jew—but Helena's concern for the American grows into something much deeper and the dream of a life beyond the mountains beckons. Defying the perils that render a future together all but impossible, Sam and Helena make plans for the family to flee. But Helena is forced to contend with the jealousy her choices have sparked in Ruth, culminating in a singular act of betrayal that endangers them all—and setting in motion a chain of events that will reverberate across continents and decades.