Publishers Weekly
12/18/2023
A gay Holocaust survivor confronts the man who both saved and broke him in the intense latest from Richards (after The Summer of Jenny Wade). In 1968 New York City, 42-year-old waiter Charles Ward recognizes a restaurant patron as Berthold Werden, a fugitive German paramilitary soldier from Auschwitz going by a different name. Charles has complicated feelings about Berthold, who enslaved Charles for sex and domestic service but also rescued him from being worked to death in the camp. Berthold, not recognizing Charles, invites him to dinner, and Charles accepts. During their evening together, Charles reveals who he is, and their sexual relationship reignites. The past, however, haunts Charles, and he debates whether he wants to see Berthold arrested for war crimes. In flashbacks, Richards tells Charles’s wartime story in reverse chronology, starting with his time working at a bakery in small-town Germany during the collapse of the Nazi regime, then the torments of his imprisonment in Auschwitz with Berthold, and lastly his few, desperate months in the Terezin ghetto in 1941. The well-woven narrative conveys Charles’s personal horrors of the Holocaust while delicately probing his messy entanglement with Berthold. Thanks to an unusual premise and complex morality, this stands out in the crowded field of Holocaust fiction. Agent: Matthew Carnicelli, Carnicelli Literary. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
Praise for We Are Only Ghosts
“The well-woven narrative conveys Charles’s personal horrors of the Holocaust while delicately probing his messy entanglement with Berthold. Thanks to an unusual premise and complex morality, this stands out in the crowded field of Holocaust fiction.” —Publishers Weekly
“This well-written novel by Jeffrey L. Richards will capture readers’ attention from the first page with its stylish prose.In life, it can be said that love will not be denied, no matter how harrowing the circumstances, but in this case, the reader will quickly garner that true love between Karel and Werder could never exist. We Are Only Ghosts easily merits five stars because of its ability to keep the reader interested until the end through its unusual and beautifully told story.” —NY Journal of Books
“I was mesmerized by this gorgeously written novel that explores the psychological cost of survival with unflinching honesty and unwavering compassion. An astounding story that will linger in my mind and heart for years to come, We Are Only Ghosts will take you on a riveting journey through unimaginable loss and corrupted love toward its ultimate destination of healing and repair.” —Kim van Alkemade, New York Times bestselling author of Counting Lost Stars
"Told from the important and often overlooked perspective of a young gay man imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps, We Are Only Ghosts evocatively portrays how the things that happen to us, both tragic and beautiful, shape who we are, and how we have the power to choose who we become in spite of our suffering. This gripping testament to the strength of the human spirit will both haunt and inspire you.” —Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook
“Profound, moving, and absolutely timely, We Are Only Ghosts shows how our identity determines destiny. Charles is gay, Czech, Jewish; as a teenager, he was ghettoized and subjected to the depravity of the Third Reich. In adulthood he discovers the courage to confront the ghosts who return to haunt him, including that of the boy he himself had once been. I’m still pondering the questions posed by this touching novel.” —William di Canzio, author of Alec
“Engrossing, unpredictable and unputdownable. Meticulously researched, this intriguing tale of obsession and revenge spans three decades and two continents. We Are Only Ghosts is a fascinating and intelligent novel that reads like a thriller—with complex, tragic characters you won’t soon forget.” —Kevin O’Brien, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Enemy at Home
