Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose tireless campaigning for hostages seized by Hamas-led militants captured global attention, is set to publish a deeply personal memoir this spring. The book will chronicle her family's harrowing journey following the abduction of her son during the October 7, 2023 attacks.
A Mother's Odyssey of Grief and Advocacy
Publisher Random House, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced on Thursday 15 January 2026 that "When We See You Again" will be released on 26 April. Goldberg-Polin, a Chicago-born educator now living in Jerusalem, has become an international symbol of a parent's relentless fight for their child.
In a poignant statement, she described the writing process: "I sat down to write my pain, and out poured loss, suffering, love, mourning, devotion, grief, adoration and fracturedness." She framed the book as "the first steps of a million-mile odyssey that will take the rest of my life to walk on shattered feet." Goldberg-Polin will also narrate the audio edition herself.
The Tragic Events and a Global Campaign
Her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was attending the Supernova music festival in southern Israel when militants stormed the event. He was among those loaded onto the back of a pickup truck and taken hostage. What followed was a worldwide campaign led by Rachel and her husband, Jon Polin.
Their advocacy efforts were relentless and far-reaching:
- They met with powerful world figures, including US President Joe Biden and Pope Francis.
- Rachel addressed the United Nations, bringing a mother's anguish to the world stage.
- She became a fixture at protest rallies, demanding the release of all hostages.
In a daily ritual that resonated globally, Rachel would each morning write the number of days her son had been in captivity on a piece of masking tape and stick it to her chest—a stark, visual reminder of the passing time.
A Heartbreaking Conclusion and Enduring Legacy
The family's hope for a reunion was tragically extinguished in September 2024. Israeli officials announced that the bodies of Hersh and five others had been discovered in an underground tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli forensics experts concluded they had been shot at close range.
Tens of thousands of mourners crowded a Jerusalem cemetery to pay their respects as Hersh was finally laid to rest. Despite this devastating outcome, Rachel Goldberg-Polin's story, as promised by Random House, is told in "raw, unflinching, deeply moving prose."
The publisher states the memoir "describes grief from within the midst of suffering, giving voice to the broken" and serves as "a story of how we remember and how we persevere, of how we suffer and how we love." It stands as a testament to a mother's love and a family's unimaginable resilience in the face of terror.
