"Gripping and touching" Independent
"Memorable and moving" The Times

Bound by blood, separated by love...

Twin sisters, Lotte and Anna, share a bond that is far stronger than anyone except they alone can understand. But when war comes between them, the two discover that even the deepest bonds have their limits.

Having been cruelly separated as children, Lotte and Anna are at last reunited. Neither lost hope to see each other again. However, with Europe on the verge of war, much has changed between them. While Lotte has enjoyed a privileged upbringing in liberal Holland, Anna has endured a life of poverty in a Germany under the spell of Hitler. With Lotte now engaged to a Jewish musician, and Anna brainwashed by Third Reich ideas, cracks in their relationship soon appear. With the war on, the twins decide to part again.

Back in Germany, Anna marries Martin, an Austrian soldier, who hates the war but joins the SS for the sake of his wife only to be killed a few days later. Anna is devastated and longs for her sister. At the same time, Lotte's own life is in danger. The Nazis have invaded Holland and her lover has been taken to Auschwitz. Knowing she will never see him again, all she can do is keep his family safe from Hitler's troops. Now an old woman, Lotte remembers the pain as, before her, stands the sisters she disowned all those years ago. Can these two lives ever be reconciled? The twins now face their final test . . .

Translated from the Dutch by Ruth Levitt

"A fascinating way to understand the effects of war, the tangled, muddied absurdity of it, how it traces remain in the blood for generations" - Los Angeles Times

"Completely original . . . Takes the reader's breath away" - Sunday Times

"Gripping and touching . . . Tessa de Loo's powerful narrative filters Europe's grand events through a family story that tests the ties of blood against the pull of passion and the blast of war" - Independent

"A huge success . . . a memorable and moving tale" - Sunday Telegraph

"Has there ever been, one wonders, a more imaginative and moving dramatization of the human cost of the divisions and destruction wreaked by Hitler s madness? Quite likely not. A flat-out masterpiece: exhilarating and unforgettable" - Kirkus Review

"This excellent novel spans the entire twentieth century. De Loo interleaves the twins' story with that of two countries locked in bloody conflict. A moving read about humanity's darkest hour" - Evening Standard

"Details of time, place and atmosphere are acutely evoked, and the characters are presented with a generous sympathy that stops short of special pleading" - The Times