Testament: Shortlisted for Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award

*longlisted For The Desmond Elliot Prize * Winner Of The Bath Novel Award * Shortlisted For The Author's Club Best First Novel Award * 'what A Writer. I Was Totally Captivated. Moving And Ultimately Uplifting' Heather Morris, Author Of The Tattooist Of Auschwitz 'an Important And Beautifully Written Novel By A Young Writer Of Immense Talent. I Was Deeply Moved' Andrew Miller, Author Of Now We Shall Be Entirely Free Of Everyone In Her Complicated Family, Eva Was Closest To Her Grandfather: A Charismatic Painter - And A Keeper Of Secrets. So When He Dies, She's Hit By A Greater Loss - Of The Questions He Never Answered, And The Past He Never Shared. It's Then She Finds The Letter From The Jewish Museum In Berlin. They Have Uncovered The Testimony He Gave After His Forced Labour Service In Hungary, Which Took Him To The Death Camps And Then To England As A Refugee. This Is How He Survived. But There Is A Deeper Story That Eva Will Unravel - Of How Her Grandfather Learnt To Live Afterwards. As She Confronts The Lies That Have Haunted Her Family, Their Identity Shifts And Her Own Takes Shape. The Testament Is In Her Hands. Kim Sherwood's Extraordinary First Novel Is A Powerful Statement Of Intent. Beautifully Written, Moving And Hopeful, It Crosses The Tidemark Where The Third Generation Meets The First, Finding A New Language To Express Love, Legacy And Our Place Within History. Winner of the Bath Novel AwardThe letter was in the Blue Room - her grandfather's painting studio, where she spent half her childhood. After his death, Eva is the one responsible for his legacy - a legacy threatened by the letter she finds. It is from the Jewish Museum in Berlin. They have found the testimony her grandfather gave after surviving the labour camps in Austria. And, since her grandfather was one of Britain's greatest twentieth century artists, they want to exhibit it. But Joseph Silk - leaving behind Jozsef Zyyad - never spoke of his past. As Eva begins to trace it, the more she understands the trauma, and the lies, that have haunted her family. She will unravel what happened to Jozsef and his brother, who came to England as refugees. One strived to be reborn - the other couldn't let go. Their story - and that of the woman they both loved - is in her hands. Revealing it would change her grandfather's identity. But it could also change the tide of history. The testament has the power to make sense of grief, and help her to live; if she can bear to listen. Kim Sherwood's extraordinary first novel is a powerful statement of intent. Beautifully written, moving and hopeful, it crosses the tidemark where the third generation meets the first, finding a new language to express love, loss and our place within history Her Family Was Always Complicated. It's Why Eva Was Closest To Her Grandfather: A Charismatic Painter - And A Keeper Of Secrets. So When He Dies, She's Hit By A Greater Loss - Of The Questions He Never Answered, And The Past He Never Shared. It's Then She Finds The Letter From The Jewish Museum In Berlin. They Have Uncovered The Testimony He Gave After His Forced Labour Service In Hungary, Which Took Him To The Death Camps And Then To England As A Refugee. This Is How He Survived. But There Is A Deeper Story That Eva Will Unravel - Of How Her Grandfather Learnt To Live Afterwards. As She Confronts The Lies That Have Haunted Her Family, Their Identity Shifts And Her Own Takes Shape. The Testament Is In Her Hands. -- Of everyone in her complicated family, Eva was always closest to her grandfather. She is making a film about his life. She is with him when he dies. It is only when she finds the letter from the Jewish Museum in Berlin, hidden in his painting studio, that she realises how many secrets he kept. As she uncovers everything he endured in the Holocaust and what it took to learn to live again Eva is confronted by the lies that haunt her family, and a truth that changes her own identity. Kim Sherwoods hope-filled first novel is a powerful portrait of survival echoing through the generations; a testament of love, legacy, and all the important questions we leave unasked. A prize-winning novel following a young woman uncovering the truth about her family's past in the Hungarian Holocaust.