A sweeping, gorgeously written debut: a novel of duty to family and country, the dictates of passion, and blood ties unraveling in the charged political climate of Berlin between the world wars. Lev Perlmutter, an assimilated, cultured German Jew, enlists to fight in World War I, leaving behind his gentile wife...
My name is Ruby. I live with Barbara and Mick. They're not my real parents, but they tell me what to do and what to say. I'm supposed to say that my bruises and black eye came from falling down the stairs. But there are things I won't say. I won't tell them I'm going to hunt for my real parents. I'm going to be with my real family. And I'm not going to let Mick stop me.'