Out here on the building steps, she tries to remember exactly what her mother had told her. Shivering, she wraps her arms around her tiny body and buries her face in the collar of her wool cardigan. THE GIRL SITS ALONE IN impenetrable darkness. The Girl They Left Behind “is a vividly told, beautifully written, impossible-but-true story” (Helen Bryan, internationally bestselling author of War Brides) that you won’t soon forget. Natalia must make an agonizing decision: remain in Bucharest with her beloved adoptive parents and the man she has come to love, or seize the chance to finally live life on her own terms, and to confront the painful enigma of her past. When Natalia is suddenly offered a one-time chance at freedom, Victor is determined to help her escape, even if it means losing her.

Now they are fatefully drawn into a passionate affair despite the obstacles swirling around them and Victor’s dark secrets. As she assimilates into her new life, she all but forgets the parents who were forced to leave her behind.Īs a young woman in Soviet Romania, Natalia crosses paths with Victor-an important official in the Communist regime that she used to know as an impoverished young student. With Romania recently allied with the Nazis, the Jewish population is in grave danger so the girl is placed in an orphanage and eventually adopted by a wealthy childless couple who name her Natalia. On a freezing night in January 1941, a little Jewish girl is found on the steps of an apartment building in Bucharest. A sweeping historical romance that is “gripping, tragic, yet filled with passion and hope” (Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author), offering a vivid and unique portrayal of life in war-torn 1941 Bucharest during World War II and its aftermath-perfect for fans of Lilac Girls and Sarah’s Key.

Left behind books