Who sent it? Is it a tasteless joke? An honest mistake? Or, God forbid, is it actually true?
Set in Nazi Germany, from the Berlin Olympics of 1936 to the start of World War II in 1939, this tale of adventure, and the evils of prejudice, tells of an impassioned young woman who faces police state terror, and even war, to discover the truth about her heritage, and eternal lessons about the risks that must be taken to fight evil.
Ilsa Guderian, a young woman with dreams of becoming a doctor in a time when female doctors are rare and unwelcome, lives as part of the upper class in Nazi-controlled Germany. Personally unaffected by the Nazi’s racial policies, Ilsa is too busy with her studies, and her friends, to be more than a distantly aware of the ever-tightening restrictions on the Jews.
Her father, a wealthy businessman, regularly meets with high Nazi officials. Her step-mother obsesses over meeting their wives. And her old sister, Greta, cares only about landing her up-and-coming Nazi boyfriend, Johanne, the most eligible bachelor in Berlin, whom she and Ilsa have known since childhood. As they have Max, Johanne’s best friend, a young man who’s now the most ambitious officer in the SS — in charge of finding the hidden Jews of Berlin.
Life looks bright for Ilsa — striving for a challenging career; a wealthy, well-connected family in the bustling Third Reich; and a large circle of interesting and ambitious friends. Until Ilsa comes home one day, to a package from an anonymous sender. A sender who claims that Ilsa’s mother, who died when Ilsa was only two, was herself adopted — born out-of-wedlock to a Jewish girl. The father unknown. Which — if this shocking claim is true — means both Ilsa and Greta are….partly Jewish.
Who sent it? Is it a tasteless joke? An honest mistake? Or, God forbid, is it actually true? Facing the upending of her life, and the risk of her family losing all, Ilsa sets out to find the answers. A quest where the stakes get higher as the SS gets closer, and the drums of war beat ever louder.