But their stay in the walled city proves untenable when they find themselves dodging bombs and scavenging in the rubble. Not far away, trying and failing to flee from a vengeful army, Arno and his mother hide in the ruins of a Königsberg mansion, hoping that once the war ends they can reunite their dispersed family. Neither of them realizes his stories will prove crucial and prophetic. He tells her of a besieged kingdom in the Baltic Sea from which spill the amber tears of a heartbroken queen. As they flee from the Soviet army, his enchanting folktales keep her mind off the cold, the hunger, and the horrors unfolding around them. As battle lines are drawn and East Prussia’s borders vanish beneath them, they leave their farm and all they know behind for an uncertain future.īut Ilse also has Janusz, her family’s young Polish laborer, by her side. In the harshness of winter, her family must join the largest exodus in human history to survive.
With war looming dangerously close, Ilse’s school days soon turn to lessons of survival.
From the bestselling author of The Murmur of Bees comes a transportive novel of two families uprooted by war and united by the bonds of love and courage.
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