In this tale of a Polish family desperately trying to put itself back together after WWII, Silvana and Janusz travel to England where they attempt to put the past behind them. But the secrets they carry pull at the threads of their fragile peace

"A ... history of ordinary soldiers struggling on the front lines, [this book] offers a ... new perspective on the Second World War ... [delving] deep into army archives, personal diaries, court-martial records, and self-published memoirs to produce this ... portrait of men overlooked by their commanders and ignored by history"--Dust jacket flap.

As poetic as it is enlightening this detailed biography of five literary figures is achingly beautiful in its depiction of the disturbing everyday realities of war.

Sgt. Steve Maharidge, like many of his generation, hardly ever talked about the war. The only sign he'd served in it was a single black and white photograph of himself and another soldier tacked to the wall of his basement workshop. After Steve Maharidge's death, his son Dale, now an adult, began a twelve-year quest to understand his father's preoccupation with the photo. What had happened during the battle for Okinawa, and why had his father remained...