Westerbrook, New Hampshire

Most of the book takes place in Westerbrook, a small town in New Hampshire that is home to Sage, her grandmother Minka, and Josef. Within the town, various scenes take place at Our Daily Bread bakery (where Sage and Mary work), the Our Lady of Mary Catholic Shrine (which is adjacent to the bakery and is the site of Mary's garden), Sage's house, Josef's house, Minka's home, and the funeral parlor where Adam works.

Auschwitz

Auschwitz was a concentration camp run by Nazi occupiers for the purpose of housing and, in many cases exterminating, Polish Jews and others the regime considered undesirable. Sage's grandmother, Minka, was a prisoner there, and Josef (known at the time as Franz Hartmann) was a guard there. Much of the story is comprised of memories and/or descriptions of the horrors both characters saw and endured while in Auschwitz, and many...