by Sarah McCoy
First published 2012
Elsie Schmidt stands at her family's door on Christmas Eve 1945. An escaped Jewish boy seeks shelter in the dead of night. Opening the door means risking everything she holds dear. Her family survives under the protection of a high-ranking Nazi who wants to marry her. The war's final year has brought terror and desperation to Germany, but Elsie remains a naive teenager dreaming of champagne and first kisses. Sixty years later in El Paso, journalist Reba Adams arrives at Elsie's German Bakery for what should be a simple Christmas story. The elderly baker proves difficult to interview. Reba keeps returning, determined to uncover the real story. Her fiancé Riki Chavez works for the U.S. Border Patrol and believes in clear rules. Reba sees the world in shades of gray. She runs from memories of her troubled childhood but has found stability in El Paso with a steady job and Riki. Reba's persistent questions force Elsie to relive that bleak final year of the war. As their lives intertwine with Riki's, all three must face uncomfortable truths from the past and find the strength to forgive.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: El Paso, Germany
Period: 1945, 2000s
279 pages · Hardcover · Broadway Books
Content warnings: war