Magda Dénes Bücher

This unsparing portrait of a childhood in 1939 Hungary--told in the voice of a brave and unforgettable nine-year-old Jewish girl--is "the best sort of memoir, revealing not only a compelling story, but also the bruised yet still bold self which bears the weight of its story in memory" ("The New York Times Book Review").

When her family goes into hiding from the fascist Arrow-Cross, she is torn from the "castle" of intimacies shared with her adored and adoring older brother and plunged into a world of incomprehensible deprivation, separation, and loss. Her rage, and her ability to feel devastating sorrow and still to insist on life, will reach every reader at the core.