A View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne Kelman

A View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne Kelman

Would you risk your life to save just one person?

An incredible story of love, hope and friendship, and a testament to humanity and courage in history's darkest days.

1941, Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Professor Josef Held has never recovered from the loss of his beloved wife - and has no intention of ever letting anyone new into his quiet, safe world. It is a world where the clock ticks steadily in his mathematics classroom, where every equation has a solution. Every day he walks the same route home, past his neighbour Mrs Epstein's, to a home inhabited only by him and a cat he refuses to even name.

But then the Nazis come for the Jews - and Mrs Epstein is killed. And Josef, in an impulsive act of courage, offers his student Michael Blum a place to hide.

Michael is everything Josef is not: spontaneous, poetic, and unafraid to love. Even though his passionate relationship with a Dutch girl called Elke strictly is forbidden by the Nazis - for he is Jewish, and she is not.

Desperate to give Michael and Elke's love a chance to survive, Josef gives Michael refuge in his attic: an act of bravery and resistance that will change both of their lives. But as the dark days of war continue, with danger and betrayal at every turn, no-one can be trusted, and no one is safe.

If Michael is going to get back to the woman he loves, it is down to Josef - to find the hero inside himself, and do whatever it takes to keep Michael alive.

A heartbreakingly beautiful story about love, trust, and courage against the odds, perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Lilac Girls, and The Nightingale.

Suzanne Kelman is an award-winning screenwriter and the author of the Southlea Bay series. She was born in Scotland and raised in the United Kingdom, but now lives in the United States with her husband, Matthew, son, Christopher, and a zoo of rescued animals in her own version of Southlea Bay, Washington. She adores tap dance, theater, and high teas, and she can sing Puff, the Magic Dragon's opening stanza backwards.