This is the sto­ry of a hid­den child and a hid­den Jew­ish ances­try. Raised as a Catholic, Sabine first becomes aware of her Jew­ish her­itage when her broth­er Andreas is not allowed to join the very pop­u­lar Hitler Youth. Her father, a dec­o­rat­ed Ger­man WWI vet­er­an, thinks he can out­last the Nazis in Ger­many dur­ing the 1930s until Kristall­nacht smash­es his optimism.The fam­i­ly moves to the Nether­lands to await US visas. When the Ger­mans invade, the fam­i­ly becomes trapped. Andreas is seized as a hostage in June 1941 and mur­dered in Mau­thausen con­cen­tra­tion camp four months lat­er. Friends of Andreas help Sabine and her par­ents find hid­ing places in the North Hol­land coun­try­side where they live sep­a­rate­ly under false names and must move mul­ti­ple times for their safe­ty. A mem­ber of the Dutch Resis­tance who helps save the fam­i­ly falls in love with Sabine. The author is their old­est daugh­ter who first learned about her Jew­ish ances­try while in college.