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This second book in a series follows two Latvian women, Alma and Milda, who survive through the generosity of German mothers and their children who maintain their homes while husbands and brothers are off fighting. The second half of the book covers a five-year period after American soldiers have arrived in Germany. Humanitarian organizations supported throngs of Latvian exiles awaiting deportation to friendly countries. The hope of returning home changed into a search for happiness elsewhere.
The story of these two women—one coming of age, the other dealing with a lost love, and both grieving family members left behind—breathes like a living, exiled person. One can almost feel the heat and cold emanating within the one-room attic apartment with only two cots and a potbellied stove where they spent five years. They dislike (and are disliked) by the neighbors living one door away who don't know the women's painful history. One woman reaches puberty while the other struggles to keep them both alive.
The author, who was also exiled with her parents and siblings, has created a historical novel based around her own life experiences. Her book about exiles displaced from their homelands in World War II includes strong, well-drawn fictional characters. This story also has a huge "elephant in the room": Why has a God whom some still worship allowed this horror to happen? The author also investigates the topics of exile, communism, and the Iron Curtain. Her characters live out these themes like actors on a stage. There is quotable material throughout, but little preaching to distract from the story as a whole.