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The Bureau of Unknown Fates

A heartbreaking novel about WWII's forgotten objects and the lives they hold
By Gaëlle Nohant
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Brief Description
Sometimes when you are looking for the dead, you find the living. When Irène joins the International Tracing Service, she becomes consumed by a singular obsession: returning the belongings confiscated from concentration camp prisoners to their families. A faded cloth doll. A medallion. An embroidered handkerchief.... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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This gripping novel is set at the heart of The International Tracing Service - an organisation that was created at the end of the Second World War to investigate Nazi crimes, search for missing people, and discover what became of them.

This gripping novel is set at the heart of The International Tracing Service - an organisation that was created at the end of the Second World War to investigate Nazi crimes, search for missing people, and discover what became of them.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Sometimes when you are looking for the dead, you find the living.

When Irène joins the International Tracing Service, she becomes consumed by a singular obsession: returning the belongings confiscated from concentration camp prisoners to their families.

A faded cloth doll. A medallion. An embroidered handkerchief. Each object holds a story - and behind each one, a life waiting to be pieced back together.

As Irène traces the owners through fragments of evidence, she reconstructs their final days and discovers that even in the darkest chapter of history, humanity endured.

The Bureau of Unknown Fates is a devastating and beautiful novel about history, memory and survival as one woman helps connect families across generations to the ones they have lost.

Winner of the 2023 Grand Prix RTL-Lire Fiction Award

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781786583802

Publisher: Bonnier Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 16 July 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Manilla Press

Contributors:

  • Translated by Maren Baudet-Lackner
  • Translated by Sophie-Charlotte Buchan

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 153.0mm

Height: 234.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 416

Collections

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About the Author

Gaëlle Nohant is the author of L'Ancre des rêves, published in 2007 and winner of the Encre Marine prize, organised by France's Navy. Her second novel, La Part des flammes, was awarded the 2016 Prix du Livre de Poche and the Prix du Livre France Bleu - Page des Librairies. The Légende d'un dormeur éveillé also won the 2017 Prix des Librairies. Her latest novel is The Bureau of Fates which is currently being translated into ten languages and adapted to the screen.

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