This newest World II historical novel by Soraya Lane begins at Christmas 1943 so there is no slow build-up of events to allow the reader a bit of emotional distance. It's a pivotal time for Germany's Nazi regime and the author drops you right into the proverbial lion's den with no way out. The only Jews left in Berlin are hidden but most were sent to the death camps long ago. As soon as you realize that Ava Muller works for Goebbels and her father is a high-ranking SS officer, you know that their odds of survival are slim. But as her father said, "There are risks, and at times they will be great, but there are times in life that our individual risk is outweighed by a greater good."

The tension and anxiety for both the Jewish Goldman family and the Muller family in their country home are infused into the pages. I swear I could smell their fear as I was reading. You wonder how people can live in an elevated state of terror for so long and remain sane. There were times when I had to walk away from this book because the stress levels became intolerable for me. The sacrifices that parents made for their children were heartbreakingly beautiful and I will be thinking about them for a very long time. I appreciated the closure that the epilogue provided even though I wished the outcome could have been different. As always with this author, the research is impeccable and the story is beautifully written with characters who felt like my own family by the end of the book. It doesn't get much better than that.