Publication Date: October 22, 2026
Poland, 1943. “The Germans are here,” Jakub whispers over the pounding at the bakery door. I snatch my baby from her crib but there’s no time to hide, the footsteps are coming closer. Jakub and I exchange a glance: they know what we’ve done…
Present day. Heidi arrives in Poland, a scribbled address in her hand. It has been one week since she found the photo of her grandmother Nela holding a baby outside a bakery and gazing at a man who nobody knows. With her grandparents gone and her mother’s illness getting worse, Heidi wants to find out the truth before it’s too late.
Stepping inside the bakery, Heidi inhales the scent of sweet apple cakes and fresh bread. She shows the photo to the man behind the counter, but her hopes are shattered when Olek orders her out of his shop, cursing the couple who led the Nazis to his family’s door during the war. But Nela was Jewish. Why would she risk her own life?
Determined, Heidi forces Olek to confront what he is so desperate to bury. As his resolve crumbles, they uncover stories of an underground network hidden within the bakery’s walls. But will the truth about Heidi’s grandfather give her mother the peace she needs, or will it tear apart her family for good?
An absolutely gripping and page-turning World War 2 historical fiction novel by Polish American author Gosia Nealon. Fans of Siobhan Curham, Lorna Cook and The Nightingale will be hooked.
A woman uses a photograph from 1943 to put together pieces of her family’s past in a heartbreaking dual timeline.
Author Gosia Nealon serves up a slice of World War II historical fiction that illustrates the struggles of people living in the Łódź Ghetto with The Underground Bakery.
With the past told primarily from Nela’s perspective, readers learn more about Heidi’s late grandmother. Life as a young woman forced to live in that ghetto proves to be dangerous, but Nela finds hope in an unlikely place.
Her story, carefully pieced together, proves to be one of great resilience amid heartbreak. In the process of learning about the past, Heidi gets her own second chance at love.
The Underground Bakery brings unexpected revelations for a woman seeking answers.
While Gosia Nealon is a proud New Yorker, she was born and raised in Poland. Her journey to the Big Apple revealed a wealth of cultural differences, but also the values that connect us all. Like the fierce desire to protect family, find love, and ultimately, discover who we are and why we’re here.
Gosia’s award-winning short stories have always delved into life’s biggest questions, but it was the drama, sacrifice, and tragedy of WWII that led her to pen her debut novel, which won a gold medal in the 2022 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY).
Growing up in Poland, Gosia heard many firsthand accounts of the war, told from a perspective rarely captured in mainstream literature. She was compelled to breathe life into two young people falling in love in the midst of the most terrifying conflict of our time.
When Gosia isn’t tapping away at her laptop, she’s often walking the streets of New York. With her husband and two young sons in tow, they search for the most succulent pierogi, transporting them back to the cobbled streets of her childhood.
