Clara Kramer tells the story of her experiences during World War II. Clara was a small town teenage girl, of Polish-Jewish descent when World War II began. Once the Nazis invaded, Clara and her family were taken in and hidden by an ethnic German family, called Beck. The wife was the housekeeper of Clara's family, and her husband was a notorious anti-Semite, womanizer, and alcoholic. Despite his personal sentiments, he was opposed to the fact that Nazis were marching Jewish people into the woods and executing them in cold blood. This is the story of Clara's life in hiding during World War II, which is very tense and dramatic in parts.

Despite the detailed picture of her personal experiences, I cannot imagine living in a bunker for months with other people. The height of the bunker was just four feet, meaning it was terribly cramped. Privacy was out of the question. Thinking about the incredible hardship of living in these conditions, with people sick, hungry, and through all weather conditions is staggering, really. This book really paints a portrait about what life was like for the lucky ones who were not immediately executed, starved in ghettos, or sent to concentration camps. The civilian population always gets the short end of the stick in conflict, but those who are directly targeted really experience some unimaginable things.