The Lost Wife: the heart-breaking and unforgettable WW2 love story which will sweep you off your feet

(Paperback)

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There on her forearm, next to a small brown birthmark, were six tattooed numbers.

'Do you remember me now ' he asked, trembling.

She looked at him again, as if giving weight and bone to a ghost.

'Lenka, it's me,' he said. 'Josef. Your husband.'

During the last moments of calm in prewar Prague, Lenka, a young art student, falls in love with Josef. They marry - but soon, like so many others, they are torn apart by the currents of war.

In America Josef becomes a successful obstetrician and raises a family, though he never forgets the wife he thinks died in the camps. But in the Nazi ghetto of Terezin - and later in Auschwitz - Lenka has survived, relying on her skills as an artist and the memories of a husband she believes she will never see again.

Now, decades later, an unexpected encounter in New York brings Lenka and Josef back together.

From the comfort of life in Prague before the occupation to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wife explores the endurance of first love, the resilience of the human spirit and our capacity to remember.

Reviews

This beautifully written, heart-rending, evocative novel explores the power of first love and the resilience of the human spirit. - Life & Living

The reader is taken back to an age of innocence in pre-war Prague as the young couple fall in love. In Richman's fourth novel, the use of language is highly imaginative. - The Daily Telegraph

The Sophie's Choice of this generation. - John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author

If you're a fan of Paulina Simon's The Bronze Horseman trilogy, this is right up your alley. Have the tissues near as the story of how they come to find one another again unfolds. - GRAZIA

A lyrical tale of the ravages of war, lost and the human quest for redemption. - The Good Book Guide

Tragedy and hope, love and loss, and the strength to endure are expressed through Richman's graceful writing and powerful characters, many based on actual Holocaust victims and survivors. - Booklist

Heart-wrenching . . . a genuinely moving portrait. - Publisher's Weekly

Daringly constructed . . . Richman writes with the clarity and softness of freshly-fallen snow. - Loring Mandel, Emmy winning playwright

Author Bio

Alyson Richman is the author of The Mask Carver's Son, Swedish Tango, and The Last Van Gogh. The daughter of a painter and an engineer, Richman's novels combine a love of art and research, and have been published in more than ten languages. She lives in Long Island, New York with her husband and two children.