Helen had told no one of her research into the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe. Even her closest friend and colleague, Faith Lange, had no idea--until she began retracing the dead woman's steps. Though the police have a suspect in custody, Faith is convinced that the murderer is still at large. And she is troubled, too, by the presence of Jake Denbigh, a journalist who appears to be investigating her grandfather, Marek, a refugee from the Eastern front. Everything hinges on the memories of a 75-year-old whose will to survive preserved her through the horrors of Minsk and the concentration camps, and enabled her to make a new life in England with her son. Helen's murder and its consequences will take Jake and faith on journeys to Byelorussia where the mass graves of the Kurapaty Forest have their own dreadful tale to tell; and into Faith's own family where a tragic secret lies hidden ...