Even without the knowledge of what became of the author and the history behind her work, this is a beautiful and moving piece of writing. The characters live, love and suffer for no other reason than that it is what real people do, there is no more point to the co-incidences and events that happen in the story than what there would be in your own life. These people are so believable you can't help but share in their sorrows, and feel joy at their triumphs, because Irene writes in such a convincing and honest way that you feel certain that this how how it really was, this is how the normal, every-day domestic life of civilians at war was lived. I think the only good books about war are the ones that make you see how truly pointless and painful it is for the ordinary people, the ones who are asked to make the sacrifices. This is such a book.