It is the story of Poland in the years leading up to the war, the horrors Polish Jews faced during the Nazi occupation, the brief period of hope when they believed they were building a better society, and their gradual disillusionment as state sponsored corruption, brutality, Stalinist paranoia, and anti-Semitism developed. The story is told through the memories of four people, Stasia Alapin Rubilowicz, her husband Mietek Rubilowicz, her son Peter Alapin, and her friend Alina. Life in Poland before and during the war is seen primarily through Stasia's eyes, who evokes her youth in an affluent...