Abstract:
During World War II in Vienna, Austria, a mother with four young sons struggled to survive in the absence of her military husband in a city bombed constantly day and night. She coped by drinking which left her sons to fend for themselves during her binges. The story includes the saga of the family’s escape from a devastated city, reveals the actual horrors of survival during the family’s contacts with the Nazi’s and later with the Russian’s, and the boys’ encounter with a brutal priest, all of which is seen through the eyes of one of the sons.`