Interweaving universal themes – the nature of identity, the meaning of family, the emotional legacy of the past – Interpreters magnificently unravels the impact of a war that resonates across four generations. One woman wants to uncover the truth about her family history. Another guards her secrets in order to stay sane. When Julia Rosenthal returns to England and visits her suburban childhood home, the memories and unspoken tensions of family life come flooding back. Looking for clues and determined to find some answers, she tries to make sense of her odd childhood and understand why her free-spirited brother has a much easier relationship with her teenage daughter. In a different place and time, Julia’s mother struggles to tell her own story, gradually revealing the secrets of her early years in wartime Germany – secrets she has carried through the century – until past and present collide with unexpected and haunting results. Sue Eckstein is also the author of The Cloths of Heaven (Myriad, 2013).