Korschunow discusses two topics relevant to today's society in her work —a nonglorifying view of war and a resurgence of prejudice in today's world. In Regine's world, many of the people she knows have been called to be soldiers, including her father who is listed as missing in action. Korschunow makes no effort to hide what war does to a community. The government drafts husbands and sons, leaving many families fatherless, as with Regine's, or childless, as with the farmer's wife. People lose limbs or their sanity, and those who return are never the same. Those living in a war zone also suffer. In Germany and in London bombs frequently fall on large, populated areas, killing innocent people and destroying crops.

While Korschunow does not dwell on this aspect of her novel, it does form a part of the whole.

By believing all Poles, Russian...