A heart-wrenching coming-of-age story set in Shanghai during World War II, one of the only places Jews without visas could find refuge.

“A provocative exploration of what resilience means when you’re pushed to the edge.”—BCCB

“A beautifully nuanced exploration of culture and people.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Shanghai, 1941.

When her mother vanishes from Warsaw, Lillia Kazka and her family flee Poland and the Nazis for Shanghai, a city also at war. Occupied by the Japanese army, Shanghai is one of the few remaining places in the world where Jewish families without visas can land safely. There with her father and baby sister, Lillia must learn to survive, even though her mother is missing, even though everything feels impossibly unfamiliar to the refugees who have lost entire lives.

With help from a community of strangers and friends, Lillia learns how to keep herself and her family intact, how to speak Chinese, how to scrape together enough food to survive, and how to protect her speechless sister. Struggling to find meaning for herself in a new life she didn’t ask for, and to make sense of the shattered lives around her, Lillia waits—for her mother, for certainty, for the place that might ultimately feel like home.