In the swirl of nineteen twenties Berlin, Lotte, a young woman eager for life and adventure, falls in love with Niko, an exotic Greek architecture student, and follows him to his native country. Their only child, the adored, cosseted Tician, is born there. The family will soon include Papous, the boy's grandfather and companion; Rosa, the black maid; and later, Kaiti, who introduces Tician to the ways of carnal love.

An idyllic childhood comes to an end when Germans occupy Greece. There are cadavers in the street and Nazi teachers in school. The bitter civil war that follows forces the family to flee through combat lines to safety.

Three decades of Europe's most explosive time form the background of this memoir. Events range from the 1936 Berlin Olympics and the famous Greek "Oxhi" of 1940, to the horrors of Auschwitz. History becomes personal when the author sees Hitler in Berlin and cheers Churchill in Athens. (With many photographs)