Nothing Is Forgotten: A Novel

From the beloved author of Comeback Love and Wherever There Is Light, comes a novel about the life-changing journey of a young man who travels from New Jersey to Khrushchev’s Russia and the beaches of Southern France as he finds love and discovers the long-hidden secrets about his heritage.

In 1950s New Jersey, Michael Daniels launches a radio show in the storage room of his Russian-Jewish grandmother’s candy store. Not only does the show become a local hit because of his running satires of USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev, but half a world away, it picks up listeners in a small Soviet city.

There, with rock and roll leaking in through bootlegged airwaves, Yulianna Kosoy—a war orphan in her mid-twenties—is sneaking American goods into the country with her boss, Der Schmuggler.

But just as Michael’s radio show is taking off, his grandmother is murdered in the candy store. Why anyone would commit such an atrocity against such a warm, affable woman is anyone’s guess. But she had always been secretive about her past and, as Michael discovers, guarded a shadowy ancestral history. In order to solve the mystery of who killed her, Michael sets out to Europe to learn where he—and his grandmother—really came from.

Featuring Peter Golden’s signature “vivid characters and strong storytelling” (The Washington Post), Nothing Is Forgotten changes our understanding of the impact of World War II on its survivors and their descendants, and will appeal to fans of novels by Anita Diamant and Kristin Hannah.

"Illuminating! Wherever There is Light deftly shines light on the heartbreak of prejudice, the unbreakable ties of family and the enduring power of love. Peter Golden is uniquely qualified to write this sweeping and historically accurate novel."
--Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author of THE SUMMER WIND

"Like the photographs captured by its heroine, Wherever There is Light is a soul-stirring saga of dualities: joy and sorrow, darkness and a gleam of something bright, things in reach and things just beyond the frame. This impossible, yet inevitable love story grasps your heart and doesn't let go."--Julie Kibler, bestselling author of Calling Me Home

"A uniquely American story of two unlikely lovers on disparate paths who struggle against mid-twentieth century racial and religious intolerance. Meticulously researched and beautifully written."--Amy Hill Hearth, New York Times Bestselling Author of Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society

"What color is love? These words break our heart as Julian and Kendall spend decades attempting to reach across chasms of bigotry. Weaving histories of race and slavery in America, the Holocaust in Germany, and Paris after World War II, we hope against all odds for an ending of which we can be proud. Peter Golden has given us a gift of a book."--Randy Susan Meyers, author of Accidents of Marriage

INDIE NEXT NOMINATION: "Some of the most beautiful writing on Paris that I've ever read, and as a bonus you get to meet Picasso, Sartre, and de Beauvoir.I was bowled over by the fact that German-Jewish professors escaped Hitler by coming to teach at African-American schools. The novel moves from the Depression to the mid-1960s, through all of the great issues in American life--from Segregation through World II and the opening of the cold war. The love story of the main protagonists, Julian Rose, ex-bootlegger, real-estate developer, soldier, and interrogator at the Nuremberg trials, and Kendall Wakefield, granddaughter of a slave and a celebrated photographer who is among the first American journalists to photograph the survivors of a liberated concentration camp, covers thirty years and will both break your heart and give you hope. In fact, this is a good description of the entire novel. Heartbreaking and ennobling!"--Susan Novotny, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, NY

"Nothing Is Forgotten is a Russian nesting doll of plot twists across continents and decades. This cleverly constructed Cold War tale, based on gripping true events, keeps readers eagerly anticipating what lies at its heart."--Sarah McCoy, New York Times and international bestselling author of The Mapmaker's Children

"Both heartbreaking and mesmerizing, Nothing Is Forgotten is the sort of book you won't soon forget. Peter Golden starkly juxtaposes the joys of coming of age and first love with the startling revelation of a dark family legacy. Cold War Europe, lingering Nazi secrets, and the tragic history faced by millions of families not only bring this tale to life, but will keep you turning the pages."--Lisa Wingate, New York Times Bestselling author of Before We Were Yours

"Nothing is Forgotten is historical fiction at its finest. A sweeping tale full of humor and heartbreak, Peter Golden takes us on a journey from 1960s America across Europe to explore how inherited histories can follow us through generations and redefine families."

--Karin Tanabe, author of The Diplomat's Daughter

"Golden draws a vivid portrait of the Cold War era, but it is the complex and unexpected connection between Holocaust survivors and their descendants that turns this book into a page-turner."--RT Book Reviews

PRAISE FOR WHEREVER THERE IS LIGHT

"[An] absorbing story...Golden knows how to pique our interest...vivid characters and strong storytelling."--The Washington Post