It took me a while (about 75 pages) to get into this, but when I did, it was very very good. It starts out slow, and the character development takes a while, especially for those other than Marta. I enjoyed the history embedded in this novel because it's not often we hear about what happened to people AFTER a meaningful event (this one being WWII). It was a wonderful tale and one that I - eventually - enjoyed reading. It requires patience, but it's worth the wait.