Summary

Cilka, in the security and convenience of the nurse’s barracks, breaks into tears. Elena messages Cilka to stay away from the hut because Boris flew into a rage finding Cilka gone and that other men have been looking for her. When white nights return, Cilka longs to be with her hut-mates, perhaps even to divulge her secrets. The novel flashbacks to Block 25 in Auschwitz, and Cilka uses derogatory language to load the women onto the death carts. When the SS guards leave, an onlooker calls Cilka a murderer. Cilka collapses into the snow and cries. In the gulag, on an ambulance call, the injured man is Alexandr Petrik, the young man she has been admiring for years from a distance.

In Chapter 31 Cilka tends to Alexandr in the hospital. He regains consciousness under Cilka’s care. Cilka asks to be discharged...