by Kim van Alkemade

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In 1960, Rita Klein is studying the new field of computer programming when she unexpectedly becomes pregnant. Rita is unmarried so when she is pressured into placing her baby for adoption to avoid a family scandal, she reluctantly does. She is grieving over her loss when she meets Jacob Nessy, a Holocaust survivor, haunted by his memories and desperartely wondering if his mother is still alive.

In 1941, Cornelia Vogel is living in The Netherlands and working as a punch card operator on the Hollerith computer for the Ministry of Information. The Hollerith computer was made in American and later became the IBM company. When Cornelia is instructed by the Nazis to run a census of the population on the Hollerith, she begins to realize that the Nazis are using this method to identify Jewish people and where they live. She is uncomfortable about this especially since her upstairs neighbors are Jewish and their daughter is her best friend. but her father also works for the Ministry of Information and he tells her to do as she is told and to not bring attention on their family.

In 1960, when Rita starts to work at a company that has a Hollerith computer she begins to realize that the punch cards might hold the clue to what happened to Jacob’s mother. Maybe by helping Jacob she will begin to heal herself.

Counting Lost Stars has a little something for everyone: family secrets, romance both gay and heterosexual, mistaken identities, and an interesting story about the way the Nazis used the Hollerith punch cards in their Final Solution. The two time periods come together in an unexpected way.

This well written and researched historical fiction novel is available to pre-order and will be available for purchase on July 18th. Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy.