Lately, I’ve set out on a journey to do just that. I paint in the gaps, I infuse them with life, with my life, in colors vivid enough to turn back the hands of the clock. The little girl, the adolescent, the budding woman. With every triumph and loss, with every heartbreak, I build a bridge over time, back to the people whose love I still feel so acutely. Even Victor is there in parts, Victor who broke my heart yet gave me the biggest gift in return. Victor, my childhood friend, my first love, whom I will never forget through all the loves that will follow, though I have long forgiven him, as he asked me to do on that day long ago. In my tales, we all walk together at last, we are a universe, we are one.
How can I write of such things?
In the end, I settle simply on this: I am happy, Mama. I am truly happy, and I dream with conviction, here in a place where all dreams are possible.
What else must be said? It is all she needs to smile every day when she rises in the morning and draws the sheer lace curtains away from her window. It is all she needs as she looks up at the sky of early dawn, to know that I am looking at the same sky, that we live under the same bright dome, and that as long as we love each other and hold on to what God has given us with such tenderness and mercy, our bond will never perish.
THE REAL GIRL LEFT BEHIND
THE TRUE-LIFE EVENTS BEHIND THE GIRL THEY LEFT BEHIND
Although anti-semitism had been on the rise in Eastern Europe for well over a decade, my novel begins with the Bucharest Pogrom, which took place in January 1941, when the anti-Semitic extremist faction known as the Iron Guard pillaged Bucharest’s Jewish sectors in an effort to gain political power within General Antonescu’s fascist regime. Thousands of Jews were dragged into the streets to be beaten, tortured, or killed. Accounts of atrocities included a group being brought to the city slaughterhouse half-conscious, where they were hung on meat hooks and left to die. It was during those brutal three days that my mother, much like Natalia, was found on a doorstep terrified and half frozen, and brought to an orphanage. Inside the pocket of her beautiful velvet dress, a simple note was discovered: In anguish and despair we release this child into the hands of God, with hope and faith that she may be saved.
The mystery of my mother’s origins haunted me for many years growing up in California, where I moved with my family from Bucharest as a young teen. Somehow the biological grandparents I would never know always existed in my imagination, alive in a sense. What had happened to them? Did they survive those terrible days of the massacre? If so, what kept them from ever finding their daughter again? It wasn’t until 2011, after the loss of my own father, that I began in earnest to set the events on paper, to form a conclusion, however fictional, to a story that indeed had no real-life ending.
About Anton and Despina, my adoptive grandparents, and their own heartbreaking journey, I changed very little. The grace and dignity with which they faced every adversity was evident in the few years I spent with them and perhaps taught me the greatest lessons. I am never far from the tiny communal apartment they were forced to share after the war, where for much of my childhood I was imbued with their spirit and appreciation for the beauty of everyday life despite its many imperfections. It is for them in many ways that this novel was written, as a tribute to the sacrifices they made until the end of their lives, when the daughter they’d so lovingly raised bid them farewell to pursue a better life in America.
It is important to note that although my mother did not leave Romania in the same dramatic way as Natalia, tens of thousands of Romanian Jews did—their freedom bought with cash via clandestine transactions with the Romanian government. These agreements, formed initially between the state of Israel and Romania with the help of the U.S.-based Joint Distribution Committee in the late 1940s, became known as the “gentlemen’s agreements” in the 1950s and were kept secret from the Romanian public. Under CeauŞescu, the transactions expanded to include Romanians of German origin who wanted to return to their homeland. It is rumored that by the summer of 1978, these payments rose to as much as $50,000 U.S. per person depending on age, education, and profession. This selling of people was a unique and disturbing occurrence in modern history, the effects of which were felt not only by those ultimately granted exit (many waiting ten years as unemployable political refugees) but also by the country as a whole, as the unbalanced distribution of travel visas added to the underlying anti-Semitism still present within the country.
To weave Romania’s turbulent and complex history into a work of fiction did not come without effort, and in the process, I was grateful to be guided by a number of resources. Of particular note are Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History by Robert D. Kaplan; Rumania 1866–1947: The Oxford History of Modern Europe by Keith Hitchens; Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite: The Rise and Fall of the Ceauşescus by Edward Behr; and The Ransom of the Jews: The Story of the Extraordinary Secret Bargain between Romania and Israel by Radu Ioanid, director of the International Archival Programs Division at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Equally valuable was the chronicle of Ion Pacepa, former chief of the Romanian Secret Service, who in the aftermath of his defection to the United States in 1978 exposed in Red Horizons some of the most corrupt schemes devised under the Communist regime.
Today Romania has risen from four decades of darkness, reemerging once more as a thriving European nation. Yet the shadows of its past still remain. They are ever present in the eyes of the elderly, which speak louder than any monuments about what they have endured, and fought for, and withstood.
“In anguish and despair we release this child into the hands of God, with hope and faith that she may be saved.”
Roxanne’s mother around the time of her adoption
While the journey of Roxanne’s biological grandparents was rooted in her imagination, the hardships suffered by her mother’s adoptive family was sourced in truth—picking up, in a sense, where the other one ended—with the same underlying themes of resilience and courage in the face of tyranny.
Despina, late 1920s
Anton, 1930s
Despina and Anton shortly after their marriage, 1930s
Despina and Anton, 1940s
Anton, Despina, and Roxanne’s mother, around 1944
Octavia (Despina’s sister) with her daughter and Despina with Roxanne’s mother, mid-1940s
Roxanne’s mother at age six, 1945
Roxanne’s mother in her early twenties, 1960s
Despina and Anton on their fiftieth anniversary, 1980s
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To see this novel in print is truly a dream come true, so I must begin by thanking a few individuals in particular: Ms. Johanna Castillo, my editor, for her meticulous and poignant guidance, for helping me elevate the story in ways I never imagined possible, and above all, for giving this novel a home. Ms. Sarah Cantin, for embracing this project with such enthusiasm and shaping it into its final format; I have been honored to work with you both. I am equally grateful to my agent, Ms. Elizabeth Copps of Maria Carvainis Agency, who generously offered her time, support, and creative input, and believed in my writing through the highs and lows of this journey. You are my champions.
I would also like to thank the rest of the Atria team who have helped bring this book into the world, as well as my first readers, Heidi Epstein, Cris Genovese, Michelle Childers, Jodi Stewart, Denise Miller, and Annie Manfredi for muddling with me through the early drafts and giving me their unvarnished feedback. To my dear friend Laura, who always manages to put a smile on my face and my sister, Arina, for her encouragement and comforting shoulder—I could not be luckier to have you by my side.
Huge gratitude goes to my children, Luca and Dominic, for their patience, and especially to my husband, Philippe, my love, without whom this novel would not have been completed. Thank you for living this book with me, for your tenacity, for believing.
Last, I must thank my grandparents, Anton and Despina, who live in my heart every day, and my mother, Alexandra, whose engaging and col
orful storytelling planted the seed for this novel. You are my guardian angels. I love you.
An Atria Reading Club Guide
The Girl They Left Behind
Roxanne Veletzos
This reading group guide for The Girl They Left Behind includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book
Topics & Questions for Discussion
1. For much of the novel, Natalia cannot remember her life before Anton and Despina adopted her, saying “her past had faded to black” (pg. 73), although she eventually regains some of her memories of her birth parents’ flight from Romania when she was almost four. What is your earliest memory? Is there anything from before then that you wish you could recollect?
2. In the first window into Despina’s point of view, she reflects on the serendipitous nature of her meeting Anton. Are there other moments in the plot that seem “fated”? What role does the notion of fate play in the book?
3. The Girl They Left Behind is separated into three parts—Anton and Despina, Natalia, and Victor. Why do you think Roxanne Veletzos chose to structure the novel this way? How did each part contribute to the overarching narrative?
4. One of the prominent themes of the book is reversal of fortune. For example, Anton acquires great wealth, only to lose everything, and Victor, once a starving university student, rises to the top of a political regime. What do you think bonds these two characters so deeply despite their opposing circumstances?
5. In a critical moment when Natalia is ill and needs to get to a hospital, a Nazi soldier decides to save her life because he also has a daughter. Were you surprised by this display of humanity? Do you think he would have done the same thing if he knew Natalia was of Jewish descent? Why, or why not?
6. When Despina receives the letter from Natalia’s birth mother, she is forced to make a decision about whether to share that letter with her daughter. Do you think you would have done the same thing in her position?
7. When Natalia runs into Victor in her early twenties, she is torn between her attraction to him and his desertion of her and her family ten years prior. What finally draws her into his arms? Does she ever forgive him fully or is there still a part of him that she distrusts? What in the end allows her to let him go and move into a future without him?
8. Both Despina and Zora exemplify incredible strength in their fight for the safety of their daughter. Discuss whether they seem ultimately separated or united in the choices they make as mothers. Which one of them do you think finds the most peace at the end of the novel?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. As a group, take a look at the section beginning on page 341: The Real Girl Left Behind. Do the photographs of the real-life Anton, Despina, and Natalia match with how you envisioned them? If not, how do they differ? In her author’s note, Roxanne Veletzos mentions a couple of the changes she made to her mother’s story to fictionalize it. Why do you think she made those changes? What effect did they have on the novel?
2. In the epilogue, Natalia writes that she will help her parents leave Romania and help them join her. Consider writing a scene in which Anton and Despina come to New York. What would it be like for them to reunite with Natalia? How would they feel seeing Zora and Iosef? What sort of life would they build in America? Share your writing pieces with your book club and discuss the different ways you imagined their future.
3. One aspect that sets The Girl They Left Behind apart from many other novels set during the same era is its Romanian setting. Consider reading another historical novel set during World War II with your book group, such as All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer, The Diplomat’s Daughter by Karin Tanabe, or The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa. After reading, compare and contrast with The Girl They Left Behind. What similar themes were touched upon in both novels? What challenges did characters face in both? How did the setting impact its outlook on the war or its fallout? What did each novel explore that was different?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ROXANNE VELETZOS was born in Bucharest, Romania, and moved to California with her family as a young teen. Already fluent in English and French, she began writing short stories about growing up in her native Eastern Europe. Building on her love of the written language, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism, and has worked as an editor, content writer, and marketing manager for several Fortune 500 companies. To learn more, visit roxanne-veletzos.com.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Roxanne Veletzos
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Interior design by Amy Trombat
Jacket design by Albert Tang
Jacket photography © Gregory Costanzo/Getty Images; © Classicstock/Alamy Stock Photo
Author photograph by Eric Lindstrom
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Veletzos, Roxanne, author.
Title: The girl they left behind : a novel / Roxanne Veletzos.
Description: First Atria Books hardcover edition. | New York : Atria Books, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018005009 (print) | LCCN 2018010080 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501187704 (eBook) | ISBN 9781501187681 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Family life—Hungary—Fiction. | World War, 1939–1945—Hungary—Budapest—Fiction. | Hungary—Social conditions—1945–1989—Fiction. | GSAFD: War stories | Historical fiction
Classification: LCC PS3622.E437 (ebook) | LCC PS3622.E437 S63 2018 (print) | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018005009
ISBN 978-1-5011-8768-1
ISBN 978-1-5011-8770-4 (ebook)
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