Two Jew­ish fam­i­lies in 1930s Ger­many face the unimag­in­able — dan­ger, per­se­cu­tion, loss, and the con­se­quences of dif­fi­cult deci­sions made at vul­ner­a­ble times. How is it pos­si­ble to sur­vive ter­ri­ble eras in his­to­ry and still remain proud of who you are? 

Writ­ten in a dra­mat­ic but reflec­tive tone, this sto­ry imme­di­ate­ly draws the read­er in and makes one care about the char­ac­ters. The char­ac­ters come have diver­gent back­grounds but they find human con­nec­tions and are sur­pris­ing­ly intro­spec­tive. Two of the char­ac­ters share a love of ice skat­ing that remains con­sis­tent through­out the book. 

The after­math of World War II sets the stage for an iden­ti­ty cri­sis that pulls at the heart­strings and pro­vides grist for deep thought for mature read­ers of ages six­teen and up.