Europe, 1940s: Imprisoned in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, Spanish fighter and photographer Mateo Baca is ordered to process images of the camp and inmates for a handful of photo books being made for presentation to top Nazi figures. Just five books in total, or so the officials think…
Mateo manages to make a secret sixth book and, with the help of a local woman, Lena Lang, it remains hidden until the end of the war.
Australia, present day: When thirteen-year-old Hannah Campbell’s Yugoslavian grandfather, Nico Antonov, arrives in Australia to visit his family, one of the gifts he brings with him is an intriguing-looking parcel wrapped in a flour sack, which Roza, Hannah’s mother, quickly hides.
Later, Hannah sneaks off in search of the mysterious package. She is horrified to find in it a photo book full of ghastly historical photographs of a terrible place full of people suffering.
At first Hannah has little context for what she sees, but over the years, as she experiences love, grief and trauma, she understands what these photos came to mean, for herself, her freedom and for those who risked their lives to ‘bear witness’ to history.
The Hidden Book is a startling story of clandestine courage and treachery in WWII, and how we must meet and overcome our pasts to step into our futures.
What a keen eye for a brilliant story! Bestselling author Kirsty Manning sure knows how to breathe life and heart into historical events. Here, she takes a real-life historical story and weaves it into a compelling and multifaceted novel. Team this with rigorous research, an immediate, poignant and dynamic writing style, and you have Manning’s superb sixth novel, The Hidden Book.
The novel is inspired by the true story of an album of photographs smuggled out of Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, kept safe by a local villager. After the war, the photos were used by prosecutors during the Nuremberg war crimes trials. The album was brought to Australia in the 1970s and today is kept at the Sydney Jewish Museum. It’s a powerful, factual story made all the more stirring by the riveting imagining Manning has gifted us with.
The novel is set over three major time periods with multiple points of views. Manning has deftly constructed the deeply affecting characters of Santiago, Lena, and our brave modern-day heroine and historian, Hannah, who’s determined to bring this story into light.
The Hidden Book is a moving and sensitive meditation on courage and endurance. Manning offers a sobering insight into the horrors experienced, the inheritance of trauma and loss, as well as the bravery to liberate the past.
Manning writes about family with a beautiful sense of intimacy, an excellent ear for the conversations with those we love, the pain of them, and the hope. The travelling back and forward over time and perspectives is done with ease and cohesion as this moving and magnificent story evolves, leaving us with a sense of a hopeful future.
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