Summary

The Prologue is set in the Soviet Union in 1942. Alina was married to Tomasz Slaski in a ceremony at a refugee and military training camp. The wedding should have taken place in a church. It was supposed to symbolize a break from the reality of their lives. She wore the only clothes she owned. They both had lice. Alina tried not to cry through the ceremony. When the orphans of the camp sang for her and Tomasz, she decided to mirror their bravery.

In Chapter 1, set in the present and narrated by Alice, Alice’s son, Eddie, who is on the autistic spectrum, is having a breakdown in the grocery store because the company that makes Go-Gurt, the only kind of yogurt he will eat, has changed its packaging. Alice knows she must wait for Eddie to wear himself out. There is...