The author, Esther Hautzig, introduces the context and characters in the book. The narrative begins when Esther is 10 years old, in June 1941, in the Polish city of Vilna. Esther lives in a large home with her extended Rudomin family and loves her peaceful life and predictable routines. This life was first interrupted by war in 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland. Esther recalls how her father—her beloved Tata—was drafted into the army and presumed to be dead; her mother insisted that he was still alive and would return. To everyone’s shock, he did. In 1940, the Russians took Vilna and confiscated the family business. Esther’s world “remained intact” and, on that June morning, she “had not the slightest premonition that it was about to end” (6).

Early that morning, Esther is reading a novel in her bed when she is interrupted by her mother. Her mother, Raya, tells her that “something is happening” (7)—Russians are at her grandfather’s apartment, and her father has left to investigate. Raya gives her a matchbox and instructs her to take it to Raya’s mother’s house. Esther delivers the box to her maternal grandmother, who opens it to find it filled with Raya’s jewelry.