This book covers an important slice of twentieth-century Soviet history beginning with the reign of Czar Nicholas II.

Agnei Rosa Nicolaievna Butorina was from Chusovoy, Russia, a town in the Ural Mountains and the mother of the author.

She didn’t want her past dug up but after a tearful reunion with her family and friends in Russia fifty years after she left, accompanied by Roxana Spicer, her journalist daughter, Agnei Rosa was more willing to talk about the war. Afterward, her daughter decided to research her mother’s history which included a stay in Auschwitz concentration camp and time as a slave for the Germans.

Agnei’s life was spared through her own cunning, her ability to speak German and her marriage during wartime to a sensible Canadian.

This well-researched book, that is at times enthralling, is a moving story and one worth reading.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fascinating and interesting read. I have always wondered how people survive throughout their struggles and hardships and how they continue on while still living their lives. This book showed me how one family did just that and it was so compelling.

This book was very hard to follow. It kept jumping around so much I’m not sure where or when the author was at in her story line most of the time. I couldn’t tell where she was or when she was. Sometimes she was back to when her mother was alive talking to her or she was jumping around to her many trips to where she thought her mother had been while she was captured by Hitler’s men.

It just was very confusing and hard to follow. There were some interesting facts in this book that’s why I gave it four stars. Otherwise it was a very confusing read and very hard to follow.

That you to Ne and the publisher for this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and am hoping to read more by this author. Historical fiction novels are one of my favorites and this book was captivsting.

I read the book in one day and highly recommend.

The author is new to me. But will be searching for more books by her.

Recommend.

Fascinating story! I have read many WWII stories, from Holocaust memories to all the military strategies of detail, but no story so personal and riveting as Roxana Spicer’s story of her Mother, Rosa. It is a very inspiring book, both Rosa’s life and Roxana sharing her life through her journey to discover the truth of her mother’s life. A highly recommended read!