In 1945, Elsie Schmidt is a naive teenager, as eager for her first sip of champagne as she is for her first kiss. She and her family have been protected from the worst of the terror and desperation overtaking her country by a high-ranking Nazi who wishes to marry her. So when an escaped Jewish boy arrives on Elsieβs doorstep in the dead of night on Christmas Eve, Elsie understands that opening the door would put all she loves in danger.
Rebaβs latest assignment has brought her to the shop of an elderly baker across town. The interview should take a few hours at most, but the owner of Elsieβs German Bakery is no easy subject. Reba finds herself returning to the bakery again and again, anxious to find the heart of the story. For Elsie, Rebaβs questions are a stinging reminder of darker times: her life in Germany during that last bleak year of WWII. And as Elsie, Reba, and Rikiβs lives become more intertwined, all are forced to confront the uncomfortable truths of the past and seek out the courage to forgive.
© 2003-2026