Refusal

When Klara appears in Paris two months after the end of the war and years after her disappearance into Auschwitz her best friend and sister-in-law Ang lika is elated if apprehensive. Initially her fears seem well founded - Klara won't eat nor will she acknowledge the daughter she has left behind. Gradually Klara reveals with cold anger and pitiless lucidity the full extent of what she experienced in Auschwitz as she struggles to readapt to normal life.

Not since Sophie's Choice has a novelist succeeded in conveying - with truth dignity power and intelligence - the inhumanity of the death camps and the scars suffered by those who survived them. Refusal is a compelling elegant and often heart-breaking glimpse into life beyond the horror.