Part 1, Twilight, Chapters 1-5 Summary

Chapters 1 and 2 introduce Christopher De Monti, a journalist from Switzerland, living in Warsaw and reporting on the war for his Swiss News Agency with his photographer, Ervin Rosenblum, a Polish Jew. The year is 1939 and Nazi Germany is on the offensive, having overrun Austria and Czechoslovakia. Most Poles believe that their country is next in line for invasion and indeed, reports of growing Nazi military forces at their borders tend to confirm this belief. Close friend to Chris, Dr. Paul Bronski, Dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Warsaw, has invited Chris to dinner at his home. Paul is married to Deborah who unlike her husband, practices her Jewish faith and has raised their two children in that manner.

Chapters 3-4 provide additional background and plot introduction. Paul invites Chris, a good friend, to...