The arrival of the Russian army sends the prostitutes fleeing. And as her life spirals downward, Mariana reaches out for consolation to the adoring boy who is on the cusp of manhood. As the memories of his family and friends grow dim, Hugo falls in love with Mariana. And Hugo becomes protective of Mariana, too, trying to make her laugh when she is depressed, soothing her physical and mental agony with cold compresses. When she’s not mired in self-loathing, Mariana is fiercely protective of the bewildered, painfully polite young boy. Mariana is a bitterly unhappy woman who hates what she has done to her life, and night after night Hugo sits in her closet and listens uncomprehendingly as she rages at the Nazi soldiers who come and go. The ghetto in which the Jews have been confined is being liquidated by the Nazis, and eleven-year-old Hugo is brought by his mother to the local brothel, where one of the prostitutes has agreed to hide him.
**WINNER OF THE 2012 INDEPENDENT FOREIGN FICTION PRIZE** A new novel from the award-winning, internationally acclaimed Israeli writer (“One of the greatest writers of the age”-The Guardian), a haunting, heartbreaking story of love and loss.
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