Czechoslovakia, Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, 1944. ‘I have to go away, my darling. Please, be brave, stay alive, for me.’
Her mother’s voice breaks. The little girl tries to stop the forbidden tears from falling, as the train takes her mother, and she is left alone.
Berlin, six years later. Hanni Winter shows her new husband around her first solo photography exhibition. But Freddy’s reaction is unexpected. His face white, he can’t take his eyes off the photo of a young girl around four years old. ‘That’s Renny,’ he whispers, ‘my sister, she was taken by the Nazis…’
Hanni remembers her perfectly – the child with the wide eyes and bitten lips, who wouldn’t let herself cry despite the chaos and cruelty all around them in the camp. Her heart had broken for the little girl as she took her picture, desperate to reveal the truth about the Nazis to the world. If that child is Renny, then they must try to find her. They must return to hell on earth.
But when Hanni arrives at the black and white arch of Theresienstadt, she comes face to face with a man she fears more than any other. Can she find the strength to fight again, or will every hope for the future be lost forever?
The Girl in the Photo by Catherine Hokin, the third in her Hanni Winter series, is published on 27 January, 2023.
Read Catherine’s Historia feature about the background to her latest novel.
