Aliki is a young girl living with her father in a small Greek village during the warw hen the Germans invade and take up residence. When Aliki witnesses her father's summary execution for foraging in a forbidden field, she goes mute, and is taken in by a family friend. She and Takis, the son of the family friend, become friends, in spite of Aliki's muteness and Takis' odd behaviors. Things change for them the day they learn a woman and her teenage son are hiding in the basement.
Focused primarily on the period immediately after the war, this is a well-told tale of a time and place not familiar to me. Greece clearly descended into chaos in the war's aftermath, and My Last Lament captures that disjointed situation nicely. Very fine historical fiction.
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