First published 2001
Maria faces each day with a single promise to herself: she will live. The world around her crumbles as war tears through her homeland, separating families and destroying everything familiar. She watches neighbors disappear and friends make choices that reveal who they truly are when survival becomes the only goal. Maria must navigate a landscape where trust becomes a luxury and every decision carries life or death consequences. Her resolve wavers as hunger weakens her body and loss breaks her heart, yet something deeper than hope drives her forward. She discovers strength in unexpected places and finds that living means more than simply staying alive. The promise she made to herself transforms from desperate defiance into something more powerful as she learns what it truly costs to remain human when the world loses its humanity.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, resilience
Setting: Europe
Period: World War II
Hardcover · Schröder, München
Content warnings: death, war