Sirka Starzynski/Sarah Dufaure Rainsferd

Sirka Starzynski is referred to as "the girl" in the first part of the book. It is near the middle of the book that the reader learns the girl's name, although the use of the name is fleeting and not often used.

Sirka is the ten-year-old daughter of Polish immigrants Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, and older sister to four-year-old Michel. Sirka is a lovely child with honey blond hair and turquoise eyes. The girl is bright for her age and curious. The nature of the Nazi Occupation in France during the Second World War was somewhat of a mystery to many Parisiens, and what was known was kept from the children. This makes Sirka angry and she feels that if she had known, Michel never would have been locked in the cupboard.

It does not take long for the influence of the Nazis to...