Sing What You Cannot Say
by
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January 1942
As she flipped onto her side, Anna could hear the wind howling outside the barracks. The worn blanket did little to cover her and even less to keep her thin body from shivering. It had been three months since Anna Katz had arrived in Terezin from Prague. Life there had become all but unbearable. They were no longer allowed to go to parties or concerts, driving licenses were revoked, and all of them now had to wear the star.
Anna thought she had found a way out of Prague, but initial promises that she and her family would be brought to safety—they had been told that Terezin was a new Jewish city where they could live comfortably and safely—had been quickly replaced by three-tiered bunks and two square yards per person for cooking, sleeping, and bathroom facilities. Terezin was clearly no Jewish settlement. It was a concentration camp.
Anna rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling as she slowly hummed the first line of a Czech lullaby her mother had sung to her as a child. “Spi, detatko, spi …” Sleep, child, sleep. She took care to keep her voice low so the guards wouldn’t be disturbed. A quiet voice joined her own and then another. Layers of sound; melody, harmony—quiet courage.
Her stomach rumbled, and she wrapped her arms around her middle to quiet the sound. She would have to switch to her other side soon; her bony hips offered little padding against the hard, thin mattress.
The door flew open, and in came a burst of icy air from the winter night. The light switched on suddenly. “Who is that singing?”
Everyone kept still as the guard walked from bunk to bunk. He stopped at Anna’s bed and poked her back with a stick. “Is that you singing?”
Anna kept her eyes closed and quietly replied, “Yes, sir.”
He tore the blanket from her and ordered her to get up. “I thought it might be you. Come with me. Now.” The guard quickly marched toward the door. Anna had no choice but to follow him into the cold night.
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About the Book
In this wonderfully engaging and deeply emotional novel, two women’s stories become intertwined in unexpected ways. Composer Anna Katz hides encrypted messages of hope and protest in the music she secretly writes when she is held prisoner in Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp. Modern day music professor Emily Thurgood studies the music created and performed in Nazi camps during the Holocaust. Despite being separated by seventy years and unbelievably different circumstances, the two women both understand the timeless power of music to offer hope and overcome despair.
As Sing What You Cannot Say develops, Emily becomes a leading suspect in a murder investigation. While the police draw unexpected connections between her and the victim, Emily finds a mysterious musical clue left in her office. This finally leads her to take matters into her own hands, and she embarks on a complicated mission to prove her innocence. Her search takes her to the Czech Republic, to the concentration camp Terezin, and to times gone by as she attempts to find a killer and unravel a musical mystery.
It all comes back to Anna Katz. In the end, Anna might be the only one who can save Emily from being charged with murder.
About the Author
Cathy Raymond is a linguist and educator with a lifelong passion for music, languages, and culture. She spent eight years in Germany and has degrees in piano performance, German, and linguistics. She lives and works in St Louis with her multilingual, musical family and two dogs. This is her first novel.