Ashes in the Snow
A Novel
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
HarperVia Paperback Original
A spellbinding murder mystery with the plotting and characterization of Louise Penny or Agatha Christie set in Auschwitz at Christmas, 1943.
Auschwitz, 1943. It’s snowing outside and Block 10 looks even bleaker than usual. Gioele Errera, a young Jewish boy imprisoned in the camp, finds the body of an SS officer.
Detective Hugo Fischer is sent to investigate the unexplained death of the renowned Nazi. But Hugo is hiding a secret – he is suffering from a degenerative disease. The only way for him to survive is to give his support to the Reich and hide his condition.
In Auschwitz, Hugo comes face to face not only with a complex murder, but with a truth – that of the Final Solution. And he is forced to decide what is most important to him – and who, if anyone, he should try to save…
Inspired by the author’s family history, this wonderfully atmospheric page-turner, set during World War II, introduces a memorable hero—the flawed and fascinating Hugo Fischer.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ramunno's debut novel is a wrenching murder mystery set in December 1943 at Auschwitz. Hugo Fischer, a criminologist at the Reich's main security office in Berlin with a secret case of multiple sclerosis, has been sent to the camp to investigate the death of Dr. Sigismund Braun, who worked closely with Josef Mengele, the notorious "Angel of Death" known for conducting inhumane experiments on prisoners. By the time Fischer arrives, Braun's corpse has been removed and his laboratory cleaned up, leaving Fischer with little evidence and only one witness: eight-year-old Gioele, who found the body and is being held in Auschwitz with his twin brother. In Berlin, little is known of the horrific conditions at the camp, and Fischer is shocked by what he sees. He's also increasingly desperate to keep secret his own debilitating condition, lest he become a target for the Reich. As Fischer, with Gioele's help, starts poking around Braun's murder, he unearths a secret network of SS officials with surprising sympathies who may be able to help with more than just the murder case. Ramunno delivers sound detective work and memorably tense atmosphere, but it's her multilayered protagonist and insights into an under-covered political movement within Nazi Germany that stand out. This marks the arrival of a major new voice in historical fiction.
