Content Warning: This section references acts of racism and violence that occurred during the Holocaust, including murder and sexual assault, as well as suicidal ideation.

The book opens with a scene in the Auschwitz studio depicting the seamstresses at work and then introduces key characters, beginning with Irene Reichenberg. Irene was born in 1922 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia; her father, Shmuel Reichenberg, was a shoemaker and her mother, Tzvia, a homemaker. The large size of the family demanded frugality. It was expected that Irene would one day marry and have a family.

At age seven, Irene met Bracha Berkovič, who was born in an agricultural area of Čepa and was her parents’ first child. Salomon and Karolina Berkovič’s marriage was arranged by a matchmaker, and they would have five children. Karolina worked as a laundress, while Salomon was a tailor who owned his own business in Bratislava. It was at school in Bratislava that Bracha met Irene. They formed a trio with Renée Ungar, playing street games after school and swimming in the Danube during the summer.

In August 1929, Rudolf Höss married Erna Martha Hedwig Hensel. Höss would later serve as commandant of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp; his wife—known as Hedwig—would establish and oversee its fashion salon.