Not for Your Eyes

A Holocaust Love Story in Letters

Published by She Writes Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

LIST PRICE ₹741.00

PRICE MAY VARY BY RETAILER

About The Book

For fans of When Time Stopped and The Tattooist of Auschwitz comes a World War II love story drawn from real letters, where devotion endures across an ocean and through war and unimaginable loss.

It began with a chance meeting and survived a world at war.

Marianne, a seventeen-year-old Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport, is living in a London hostel when she meets Gerson, a twenty-one-year-old American soldier stationed in England. Their first encounter, at a Chanukah celebration meant for a handful of servicemen, sparks a romance neither could have imagined. As the war rages on, their relationship unfolds through stolen visits and heartfelt letters, each one a lifeline carefully saved in its original envelope.

When the war ends, Gerson returns to the United States while Marianne remains in a battered London, uncertain of her future, her family’s fate, or whether love alone can bridge an ocean. With no phone calls and no guarantees, they rely solely on letters filled with longing, courage, faith, and devotion—and through loss, displacement, and relentless uncertainty, their bond deepens.

Constructed from more than 360 letters that lay hidden in an attic for decades before being discovered by Gerson and Marianne’s daughter, Not for Your Eyes is a moving testament to resilience, optimism, and the enduring power of love, proof that even after unimaginable darkness, hope can still find its way home.

About The Author

Margot Kelman, a speech-language pathologist with a PhD in communication sciences and disorders, is the author of a children’s book, Sparky and Spike. She is the daughter of Marianne and Gerson, whose wartime letters form the primary source material for Not for Your Eyes. Her writing is grounded in archival research, historical documentation, and a deep commitment to preserving personal narratives of World War II and the Kindertransport. She is a member of the board of the Kindertransport Association. Margot’s career and family life have taken her to many places, but her heart will always be in New York.

Product Details

  • Publisher: She Writes Press (March 2, 2027)
  • Length: 256 pages
  • ISBN13: 9798896364412

Raves and Reviews

“It is through individual stories that we can begin to comprehend the enormity of an event in which millions of lives were lost or disrupted. Through their letters, Marianne and Gerson tell us what it was like to live in such dark times. Theirs is a love story of resilience and devotion, eloquently told.”—Mary Huff Stevenson, author of Our Words Were Our Bond

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