In this powerful, poignant memoir, Scheidt shares his experience of embarking on a decade-long journey to uncover his family's history. After the author's mother dies, he discovers historical documents pertaining to the Holocaust and his family's journey to America. Like so many others whose families had immigrated after World War II, the author knew very little about his family's background. He shares memories of his parents and his relationship with them, all of which reveal the complexities of growing up in—and eventually becoming the head of—a family shaped by the Holocaust. When his path crosses with that of a Nazi officer's granddaughter, Kat Rohrer, the course of the author's research changes. As he and Rohrer travel together, their stories merge and unfold, and each takes a unique step toward understanding inherited trauma, intergenerational trauma, and how the past's horrors undoubtedly shape individuals, their families, and their futures.

Mirroring books like Willie Handler's Out from the Shadows in its examination of post-Holocaust generations, this book is vivid and intimate. It is filled with deeply personal accounts and memories from people who survived one of the world's most tumultuous periods. The author does not shy away from sharing his own accounts of growing up in a family where silence and governmental distrust shaped his upbringing. Moreover, this book arrives at a pivotal time in current events, when the cycles of history seem poised to possibly repeat. The narrative's message about understanding, forgiveness, and healing is also necessary and immediate. This book is an excellent contribution to the ever-growing canon of memoirs focused on the post-Holocaust generations, post-Holocaust intergenerational trauma, and the Jewish story.

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