They Went Left

Monica Hesse’s 2020 novel They Went Left is a work of historical fiction aimed at adults and young adults. Hesse’s work traces the journey of 18-year-old Zofia Lederman, a Polish Jew, after she is liberated from a Nazi concentration camp; Zofia travels through war-scarred Europe in 1945 in search of her younger brother, Abek. The novel deals with themes of antisemitism, displacement and violence, Memory and Trauma, and the redemptive and healing power of love. Hesse’s novel has been met with public and critical acclaim and has received numerous awards, including features on the New York Times bestseller and Best Book of the Year lists, the Sydney Taylor Honor Book award, the NPR Best Book of the Year award, and the Booklist Editor’s Choice award.

This guide is based on the 2020 Little, Brown and Company hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss antisemitic violence and genocide, as well as general violence.

Plot Summary

When the Nazis invade Poland, Polish Jews from the city of Sosnowiec, renamed Sosnowitz, are systematically rounded up and forced from ghettos into cattle cars to be taken to the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Among the thousands of people are the Ledermans, consisting of Zofia, her mother, her father, her grandmother, her aunt, and her younger brother.