Mapping the Bones

Set in Poland during the early 1940s, this novel follows twins Chaim and Gittel after they are separated from their parents. Their journey takes them through a forest as they evade Nazi soldiers, from the Lodz ghetto toward partisan territory, and eventually to a concentration camp. The story reimagines Hansel and Gretel amid the Holocaust, with fairy-tale images of witches, forests, and ovens. Chaim’s poetry and the twins’ love for each other remain important amid loss and violence.