After the End: A Novel

For Sarah Morgenstern, the end of the war is only the beginning of the battle.

On May 2, 1945, the gates of Wöbbelin concentration camp swing open. But for Sarah, liberation is not a celebration. It marks an emptiness she does not yet know how to fill. Clad in a ragged uniform and stripped of everything but her will to live, she is no longer a prisoner, yet she is far from free.

Now labeled a “displaced person,” Sarah must navigate a fractured world of barbed wire and bureaucracy under the watchful eyes of her American liberators. From the crowded barracks of Feldafing to a desk as a translator for the U.S. Army, she begins a painful search for what remains of her family and the girl she once was.

In the chaotic year that follows, Sarah confronts the shadows of her past while daring to imagine a future beyond them. After the End is a luminous story of survival after survival, of grief and resilience, and of the fragile, stubborn hope that makes a new beginning possible even after everything has been lost.

About the Author

Kelli Christiansen has spent her career in publishing as a writer, editor, agent, instructor, and bookseller. Her work has appeared in various media, including Chicago Book Review; Chicago Life; Faith, Hope & Fiction; Midwest Book Review; Midwestern Gothic; and San Francisco Book Review. She graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Northern Illinois University, and she earned a master’s of liberal arts (MLA) from University of Chicago.

"A Jewish girl searches for her family in the aftermath of the Holocaust in Christiansen’s historical novel.

Christiansen’s attention to the postwar period is compelling, particularly in a literary landscape saturated with Holocaust fiction. After the war, Sarah’s life is in flux. But the author parlays this uncertainty into an absorbing bildungsroman about a woman finding her way in life. The novel’s strengths are its characters, especially the determined Sarah, who will no doubt serve as an inspirational heroine.

Well-plotted historical fiction whose strong focus on character development never impedes the pacing."

--Kirkus Reviews

Sarah’s continued search for her loved ones in Berlin, where she meets up with Ben and their friendship blossoms, leads to stunning revelations complicated by her fear that she may never see Ben again once he returns to the U.S. Christiansen effectively conveys her characters’ trauma and their determination to hold onto some semblance of home. The result will move readers.

--Publishers Weekly