When the World Goes Quiet
In the final days of World War I, an aspiring artist's courageous journey is just beginning in a powerful novel about love, danger, and survival by the author of Take What You Can Carry.
It's 1918 in German-occupied Bruges, Belgium. With luck, Evelien will make it to the end of the war and be given what she was promised: a prized painting in exchange for safeguarding her employer's possessions. Until then, Evelien knows to keep her head down and stay out of trouble. But life never goes to plan, especially in war.
A member of the Resistance approaches Evelien: steal a list of names hidden in her employer's home. In return, she'll get a letter from her long-missing husband, Emiel. She'd lost hope of Emiel's survival, but the promised letter puts her certainty of his death in question. Evelien begins her mission and soon forms a friendship with a soldier who is struggling with the devastating demands of battle. Their shared passion for art deepens the bond, and Evelien faces a heart-wrenching truth: she longs for Emiel's safe return...but not necessarily to her.
As the final days of the war loom closer, Evelien has never been in more danger. And should she survive the war's bitter end, what choices will she make for a life beyond liberation?
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Gian Sardar was born in Los Angeles, California. Her father was from Kurdistan of Iraq, and her mother is Belgian American and from Minnesota. She studied creative writing at Loyola Marymount University and is the author of the novels Take What You Can Carry and You Were Here and is coauthor of the memoir Psychic Junkie. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Literary Hub, Confrontation Magazine, and Salon.com, among other places. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son, and she enjoys gardening, cooking, and other forms of procrastination. For more information, visit www.giansardar.com.
"Most of all, the novel examines human survival, love, and loyalty in a time of war in an occupied area with a shortage of resources and denial of services by the oppressors...The inclusion of art, paintings, and other artifacts adds appeal to the story and plot. Highly recommended." --Historical Novels Review
"Sardar paints an intimate portrait of a passionate young woman--Evelien, an aspiring artist desperate for a future beyond domestic conventions--struggling to survive the last weeks of World War 1 in occupied Bruges. When the World Goes Quiet asks us to grapple with the difficult questions of what we owe each other of duty, love, and loyalty during times of unprecedented chaos and devastation. Sardar is a master weaver of electrifying unlikely allegiances--and shining hope in the darkest places. The payoff is unexpected and satisfying." --Yoojin Grace Wuertz, author of Everything Belongs to Us
"When the World Goes Quiet is a gripping page-turner about the moral compromises of life in a war zone, but it's also a delicate tapestry that captures how love and art can keep us alive inside devastation. Gian Sardar always writes with great lyrical beauty and emotional acuity, and this book is no exception. I loved it." --Janelle Brown, New York Times bestselling author of I'll Be You and Pretty Things
"Masterfully crafted, When the World Goes Quiet draws you in from the first page and doesn't let go. 'In war, actions do not define the man...or the woman.' This story pits passion against devotion and loyalty against duty and does a brilliant job weaving a heartrending web between them. It is storytelling at its best--part history lesson, part survival story, part love story. Stunning." --Suzanne Redfearn, #1 Amazon bestselling author of In an Instant
"When the World Goes Quiet is a deeply romantic page-turner, a gorgeous and gripping tale of the complex bonds of love, loyalty, forgiveness, and compassion." --Meg Howrey, author of They're Going to Love You
"Gian Sardar's novel When the World Goes Quiet is a heart-wrenching, evocative tale of one extraordinary artist's life in German-occupied Bruges, Belgium, in the waning days of WWI. Readers will be rooting for the main character, Evelien, from the start, as she navigates the always dangerous and nearly impossible choices that must be made in the midst of war in order to survive. With immersive historical detail, well-crafted characters, and a captivating plot, this story has all the elements of great historical fiction." --Jane Healey, author of Goodnight from Paris
"Moving, riveting, romantic, and poignant, Gian Sardar's When the World Goes Quiet swept me away. It also allowed me to reflect on how brutalizing and dehumanizing war is--and how humanity seeks connection, solace, and truth among darkness and ruin. A beautiful novel." --Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of California and Time's Mouth
