This gorgeously produced book offers a unique look at the difficulty of life after liberation from Nazi death camps: creating a family, finding a home, rebuilding one’s life as a refugee. After years of evading capture by Nazis, Jewish Gerta and her father were discovered. Her father was immediately murdered upon arrival at Auschwitz, but Gerta’s talent on the viola granted her a place in the women’s orchestra despite her young age. She was later sent to Bergen-Belsen. In the aftermath of the war, Gerta is now a refugee recovering from physical and emotional trauma. Flashbacks provide glimpses of her life before Auschwitz: Music was Gerta’s life and passion. A talented singer, she was preparing for her opera debut under the tutelage of her stepmother. Although she hung onto her viola until the war’s end, she’s lost her voice and must grapple with her new post-war identity. Who is she without her family and music, and what can she do if not sing? Her father had kept her ignorant of her Jewish heritage for years before they were captured, and Gerta now struggles to associate anything good with being Jewish. Some refugees talk of going to Israel, and Lev, a kind, devout Jew, wants desperately to marry her, but Gerta is reluctant, and fearful of commitment. Delicate ink wash illustrations are perfectly suited to this somber and illuminating story. (Age 12 and older)

A Morris Award Finalist
Longlisted for the National Book Award

For fans of The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas comes a lushly illustrated novel about a teen Holocaust survivor who must come to terms with who she is and how to rebuild her life.

"A tour de force. This powerful story of love, loss, and survival is not to be missed." --KRISTIN HANNAH, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale

After losing her family and everything she knew in the Nazi concentration camps, Gerta is finally liberated, only to find herself completely alone. Without her papa, her music, or even her true identity, she must move past the task of surviving and on to living her life. In the displaced persons camp where she is staying, Gerta meets Lev, a fellow teen survivor who she just might be falling for, despite her feelings for someone else. With a newfound Jewish identity she never knew she had, and a return to the life of music she thought she lost forever, Gerta must choose how to build a new future.

"What the Night Sings is a book from the heart, of the heart, and to the heart. Vesper Stamper's Gerta will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Her story is one of hope and redemption and life--a blessing to the world." --Deborah Heiligman, award-winning author of Charles and Emma and Vincent and Theo

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST CHILDREN'S BOOK OF 2018
A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF 2018