{"id":6,"date":"2026-02-22T17:20:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brianstanleybooks.com\/?page_id=6"},"modified":"2026-04-04T19:34:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T19:34:33","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brianstanleybooks.com\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“If the weight of the world brought you here, you’re not alone in that. No one in this novel crosses alone. That may be the truest thing in it.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A family torn apart by war. A river that remembers.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’ve read the war in France. In Poland. In England. You haven’t read this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Croatia, 1941. When Nazi soldiers burn the Stanica family’s home and take his parents, fourteen-year-old Dee escapes into a cellar his grandfather dug after the last war. By morning, he is alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His father, Yedi\u2014a country doctor\u2014is taken to a fortress where the surgeries he’s ordered to perform are designed to fail. His patients are not dying of disease. They are being murdered by the treatment itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mother, Bridgette, is imprisoned in the same castle, teaching the Nazi commander’s children by day. By night, she maps corridors and memorizes documents\u2014building a record of what happens behind locked doors, evidence for a reckoning she may not live to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Dee, starving in occupied Zagreb, is recruited into the Sparrows\u2014a resistance cell of orphaned children who run sabotage and intelligence beneath soldiers who look right through them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small. Common. Everywhere. Nobody looks at a sparrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An American pilot, shot from the sky over Croatia, falls into a war with no front lines\u2014where every act of mercy carries a price someone else will pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Reich moves to erase all evidence of what the fortress contains, four lives converge on a single transport, a single night, and the question that has no right answer: what you are willing to become\u2014and what you will never come back from\u2014to save the people you love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The train leaves at dawn.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reviews <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“As a fan of historical fiction, specifically of WWII, I thought I knew what I was in for. From the first chapter and the sheer detail and incredible description, I realized that I was going to feel present in the book. I didn’t realize I was signing up for such a ride of emotions and captivations. The storyline is unlike anything else I’ve consumed. Prepare yourself for a trip back in time…”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2014Julie R., Beta Reader<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I was deeply invested in the characters and their individual plights from the very first page. Their interwoven experiences propel the broader story, creating a narrative that is both rich and compelling.” <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Jenny R., Early Reader<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Available Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Story Behind the Novel<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A Conversation With the Author<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Discussion Questions for Book Clubs<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“If the weight of the world brought you here, you’re not alone in that. No one in this novel crosses alone. That may be the truest thing in it.” A family torn apart by war. A river that remembers. You’ve read the war in France. In Poland. In England. You haven’t read this one. Croatia, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianstanleybooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianstanleybooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianstanleybooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianstanleybooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianstanleybooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brianstanleybooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125,"href":"https:\/\/brianstanleybooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions\/125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianstanleybooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}