The Beautiful Truth [Hodder & Stoughton] (9780719521317)

Set in Poland in the present and during the Second World War, The Beautiful Truth is an unforgettable novel of families, heroism and of the possibilities of finding late love. For readers of Helen Dunmore, Sadie Jones and Rose Tremain. A thrillingly observant writer and crafter of highly sensual prose Daily MailCatherine never knew her father. A Polish exile, he disappeared when she was a small child, leaving her only a pair of binoculars and a lifelong love of the stars. Now in her forties, she leads a settled academic life in Cambridge — until one day she receives a letter with a Polish postmark from an American film-maker who is in Krakow to research the wartime experiences of his aunt. What Konrad has uncovered will send Catherine on a voyage of discovery not only into Polands past, but into her own history. And what she uncovers there will change her life in ways she could not possibly have imagined. Moving between present-day Krakow and wartime Poland, The Beautiful Truth tells a passionate and moving story of the way ordinary lives are swept up in extraordinary events. Heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure, it will not be easily forgotten.