In the attic of the house she has inherited from her grandparents, Bea finds a sealed envelope containing a manuscript written by a woman who, along with Bea's mother and thousands of other German women, was captured by the Russians in February 1945 and deported to a labour camp in Siberia. Bea starts to read it and at last, fifty years later, comes to know the circumstances leading up to her mother's death. This extraordinary, moving story of love and trust, suffering and guilt, will appeal to those who loved Bernard Schlink's "The Reader.