Book excerpt: "This episodic memoir of a girl's life in Germany through World War II and its aftermath offers vivid descriptions of the feelings and experiences of a child's life in tumultuous times. Brief, intense memories of the young child are here recalled in the vocabulary of the adult. Gradually, they turn into longer narratives as the child grows older. Strung together and interwoven, they become a colorful tapestry depicting one family's evolution through many hardships as well as periods of beauty and enchantment."--Back cover.