Selected for the 2026 Longlist for the PEN/America Jean Stein Book Award by judges Forrest Gander, Pam Houston, Morgan Talty, and Kawai Strong Washburn

“… a lyrical excavation of silence, memory, and the hidden traumas that echo across generations.”

—Brooke Shannon

“A memoir of unbearable honesty about a German woman reckoning with war, family, and forgiveness.”

Announcement of the winner of the 2023 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.

“From every hint, in every briefly shared memory, Coenen pieced together her family’s story. Exquisitely told, this heartbreaking collection will strike you to the core.”

—Colleen Modor

“…Coenen artfully connects her family’s personal experiences to larger traumas of the period. The result is a poetic and deeply felt exploration of the long shadow cast by the war.”

“A deep and moving memoir-in-essays".”

Amy Zimmerman from Chatham Bookstore recommends Unexploded Ordnance as a companion book to the novel The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden. Starting at min. 16.