KRÓLESTWO (The Kingdom)

A surprising follow-up to one of the biggest bestsellers of recent years.

Ryfka has one goal – to survive. In her hiding place, she nurses the half-conscious Jakub Szapiro, who bears no resemblance to the once-feared terror of the capital. The woman walks out at night into the rubble that Warsaw became after the Polish uprising. She acquires food, devises a plan for further escape, and exchanges money for something much more valuable – weapons. Her eyes see the collapse of Shapiro’s former ‘kingdom’, her nostrils recognise the smell of abandoned food scraps as well as the corpse-like stench, while more and more rumours reach her ears. Apparently, beneath the ruins of the former ghetto lives an almost mythical Ares, signing his Nazi victims with blood…

Dawid, Shapiro’s son, survived the deportation from Umschlagplatz. He knows little about his father’s fate because he cares little about him. He is secretly recollecting the old days and Jakub’s pre-war power. He has met many bad people in his life, but no one appears worse to him than Jakub Szapiro…

Ryfka’s and Dawid’s stories form a surprising sequel to The King of Warsaw, one of the biggest bestsellers of recent years. A gripping tale of war and an uncompromising look at perpetrators and victims. Jews, Poles and Germans. And the hardest challenge… to remain human.

The description comes from the publisher’s website.