Anja Wieniewska narrowly survived Word War II in German-occupied Krakow. How she did it is her ugly secret. Nearly translucent in her survivor's body, she is "an empty dress, walking," in the eyes of Walter Fass, who spots her through the wire fences surrounding the Displaced Persons camp in gray Bavaria. A soldier from the defeated side, Walter has his own secrets. The two form a marriage of convenience, both desperately hoping to become someone new, to leave behind the haunting memories of who they were - and what they did - in wartime.Anja and Walter flee to Walter's family farm at the foot of the Italian Alps, and there they become more to each other than refugees with a common enemy. The possibility of healing and even redemption appears within their grasp. But when an old war comrade of Walter's shows up on their doorstep, their fragile peace begins to unravel. Moran carefully and potently portrays the wrenching emotional struggle that threatens to destroy their love and their new lives - and deftly places it in the context of a chaotic world forever changed. Read Less