A big thank you to Amazon Crossing for gifting me a copy of Tears of Amber by Sofía Segovia (translated by Simon Bruni).

If you enjoyed the author’s previous book The Murmur of Bees you’ll definitely want to pick this one up too. Ilse’s life gets turned upside down as war descends on East Prussia and we follow her family’s subsequent exodus away from the encroaching Russian forces. Meanwhile, Arno and his mother are trying to hide and wait things out with hopes of reuniting with family after the war, but instead, they face horror and desperation as they try to survive.

Even if you’ve read a lot of WWII fiction in the past, this book is unique and certainly has a different feel to any I’ve read previously. It’s a story that will suck you in and with such vivid pictures being painted you’ll feel as if you’re walking alongside the characters, feeling their anguish, terror, and small moments of joy.

I definitely recommend picking up a copy of this book for yourself.

Synopsis:

With war looming dangerously close, Ilse’s school days soon turn to lessons of survival. In the harshness of winter, her family must join the largest exodus in human history to survive. As battle lines are drawn and East Prussia’s borders vanish beneath them, they leave their farm and all they know behind for an uncertain future.

But Ilse also has Janusz, her family’s young Polish laborer, by her side. As they flee from the Soviet army, his enchanting folktales keep her mind off the cold, the hunger, and the horrors unfolding around them. He tells her of a besieged kingdom in the Baltic Sea from which spill the amber tears of a heartbroken queen.

Neither of them realizes his stories will prove crucial and prophetic.

Not far away, trying and failing to flee from a vengeful army, Arno and his mother hide in the ruins of a Königsberg mansion, hoping that once the war ends they can reunite their dispersed family. But their stay in the walled city proves untenable when they find themselves dodging bombs and scavenging in the rubble. Soon they’ll become pawns caught between two powerful enemies, on a journey with an unknown destination.

Hope carries these children caught in the crosshairs of war on an extraordinary pilgrimage in which the gift of an amber teardrop is at once a valuable form of currency and a symbol of resilience, one that draws them together against insurmountable odds.