Includes a note from the author and reader's guide.

Includes bibliographical references.

Set during World War II in Poland, a novel based on real-life heroes follows Elzbieta Rabinek over the course of the war, her involvement with the Resistance, and her love for a young man imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto whose passion leads him to fight in the Warsaw Uprising.

Spring, 1942. Elzbieta Rabinek has no fondness for the Germans who patrol her streets and impose their curfews, but has never given much thought to what goes on behind the walls that contain her Jewish neighbors. Befriending Sara, a nurse who shares her apartment floor, Elzbieta makes a discovery that propels her into a dangerous world of deception and heroism. Using Sara's credentials to smuggle children out of the ghetto brings Elzbieta face-to-face with the reality of the war behind its walls, and to the plight of the Gorka family, who must give up their newborn daughter or watch her starve. When Roman Gorka brings unwanted attention to Sara's cause, one violent act threatens to destroy Elzbieta and Roman's chance at freedom-- and love-- forever. -- adapted from jacket