This is a very moving book. The characters are well developed and I found myself strongly identifying with them in their plight.

The story centers on a family of German Lutheran heritage living in post World War I Poland. Almost immediately, I felt linked with this family because two years prior to the outbreak of the First World War my grandparents on my mother’s side immigrated to Canada from this region of Poland.

The storyline follows the lives of a young married couple, Liesel and her husband Ernst, through the 1920s, the turbulent years of the 1930s with Hitler’s rise to power, and finally the devastation and deprivation of WWII and its aftermath.

Above all, this is a story of faith and family in the midst of extreme adversity. Ernst is conscripted into the German army and sent to fight on the Russian Front. Liesel struggles to survive on their farm with four hungry children and a baby on the way. Will the family survive? Will Ernst return home after being captured by the advancing Soviet army? Will the family be reunited?

This true account mirrors the experience of millions of German-speaking people who were expelled from their homes in Eastern Europe after World War II. Furthermore, it speaks to both the monumental folly of race-based nationalism, and communist dictatorship that still stalks our world today.

A five star work of historical fiction based on true events and the life experience of the author’s grandparents. A can’t-put-it-down read and winner of the Word Award for historical fiction.

Congratulations, Rose Seiler Scott!