Kim van Alkemade

A stunning debut novel in the vein of Sarah Waters’ historical fiction and inspired by true events, it tells the fascinating story of a woman who must choose between revenge and mercy when she encounters the doctor who subjected her to dangerous medical experiments in a New York City Jewish orphanage. In 1919, Rachel Rabinowitz is a vivacious four-year-old living with her family in a crowded tenement on New York City’s Lower Eastside. When tragedy strikes, Rachel is separated from her brother Sam and sent to a Jewish orphanage where Dr. Mildred Solomon is conducting medical research. Subjected to X-ray treatments that leave her disfigured, Rachel suffers years of cruel harassment from the other orphans. But when she turns fifteen, she runs away to Colorado hoping to find the brother she lost and discovers a family she never knew she had. Though Rachel believes she’s shut out her painful childhood memories, years later she is confronted with her dark past when she becomes a nurse at Manhattan’s Old Hebrews Home and her patient is none other than the elderly, cancer-stricken Dr. Solomon. Rachel becomes obsessed with making Dr. Solomon acknowledge, and pay for, her wrongdoing. But each passing hour Rachel spends with the old doctor reveal to Rachel the complexities of her own nature. She realizes that a person’s fate—to be one who inflicts harm or one who heals—is not always set in stone. Lush in historical detail, rich in atmosphere and based on true events, Orphan #8 is a powerful, affecting novel of the unexpected choices we are compelled to make that can shape our destinies.

A Novel

Orphan #8

New York Times bestselling author of Orphan #8, Kim van Alkemade returns with a gripping and poignant historical saga in which an unmarried college student who's given up her baby for adoption helps a Dutch Holocaust survivor search for his lost mother. 1960, New York City: College student Rita Klein is a pioneering woman in the new field of computer programming--until she unexpectedly becomes pregnant. At the Hudson Home for Unwed Mothers, social workers pressure her into surrendering her baby for adoption. Rita is struggling to get on with her life when she meets Jacob Nassy, a charming yet troubled man from the Netherlands who is traumatized by his childhood experience of being separated from his mother during the Holocaust. When Rita learns that Hitler's Final Solution was organized using Hollerith punch-card computers, she sets out to find the answers that will help Jacob heal. 1941, The Hague: Cornelia Vogel is working as a punch-card operator at the Ministry of Information when a census of Holland's population is ordered by the Germans. After the Ministry acquires a Hollerith computer made in America, Cornelia is tasked with translating its instructions from English into Dutch. She seeks help from her fascinating Jewish neighbor, Leah Blom, an unconventional young woman whose mother was born in New York. When Cornelia learns the census is being used to persecute Holland's Jews, she risks everything to help Leah escape. After Rita uncovers a connection between Cornelia Vogel and Jacob's mother, long-buried secrets come to light. Will shocking revelations tear them apart, or will learning the truth about the past enable Rita and Jacob to face the future together?

Counting Lost Stars

Lapsi nro 8 On vuosi 1919. Nelivuotias Rachel lähetetään newyorkilaiseen orpokotiin, missä tohtori Mildred Solomon tekee lääketieteellisiä kokeita käyttäen lapsia koekaniineinaan. Ammatillinen kunnianhimo ajaa itsekkään tohtori Solomonin kokeilemaan röntgensädehoitoa Racheliin. Tämän kärsimystä aiheuttavan kokeilun seurauksia Rachel joutuu kantamaan koko loppuelämänsä ajan. Kolmekymmentäviisi vuotta myöhemmin Rachel työskentelee sairaanhoitajana ja tapaa uudestaan tohtori Solomonin, joka on nyt sairastunut syöpään. Tällä kertaa Rachel on se, joka saa käyttää valtaa. Muuttamalla potilaansa lääkitystä hän altistaa entisen kiusaajansa kokeelle. Ennen yövuoron päättymistä Rachelin pitää tehdä valinta – anteeksianto vai kosto? Lapsi nro 8 on vahva romaani ihmisen kyvystä vahingoittaa – ja rakastaa. Romaani on saanut innoituksensa Hebrew Orphan Asylum -orpokodin tapahtumista New Yorkissa 1900-luvun alussa.

Lapsi nro 8

Weesmeisje nr. 8 is een op feiten gebaseerde, ontroerende roman over het vermogen van mensen om kwaad te doen... en lief te hebben. De vierjarige Rachel Rabinowitz belandt in het Joodse weeshuis in New York, waar dokter Mildred Solomon medische experimenten uitvoert op kinderen. Rachel wordt onderworpen aan een reeks röntgenbehandelingen, waardoor haar gezondheid voorgoed wordt aangetast. Als volwassen vrouw ondervindt Rachel dagelijks de lichamelijke consequenties van de behandelingen. Desondanks werkt ze als verpleegster in een verzorgingstehuis, waar ze op een dag dokter Solomon onder haar hoede krijgt. Al snel realiseert Rachel zich dat zij nu de macht in handen heeft. Moet ze haar kans grijpen om wraak te nemen, of kan ze de oude vrouw vergeven? 'Onontkoombaar, verontrustend en fascinerend.' - Historic Novels Review 'Een sterk debuut.' - Lambda Literary Review

Kim van Alkemade

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