... meticulous reporting and sensitive, compelling storytelling.

... meticulous research. This compelling testimonial details the deprivations German citizens faced during the war and reveals a dark part of Danish history. The perspective is enlightening and the accounts of sexual abuse are timely to the continuing Me Too discourse. This memoir deserves a wide audience..

[O'Donnell] lets events unfold chronologically while seamlessly interspersing conversations with her mother and grandmother, both natives of Germany, with her own research and travel to important family landmarks in Europe.

At turns touching and surprising, O'Donnell's work offers an honest look at how strength, weakness, and resiliency can shape who you are and who you become. Consulting both primary and secondary resources to support her narrative, O'Donnell conveys an understanding of the day-to-day challenges facing young women in the late stages of the Third Reich.

... not just the story of a life — it’s about the relationship between a woman and her grandmother, one in which O’Donnell gradually chips away at the wall of silence Inge has erected.

[O'Donnell] is an honest writer, who scrupulously avoids glamorising or exculpating her family.

... a fascinating book.

... vivid and meticulously researched.

... a wrenching family story that spreads across much of the landscape of World War II.