“One of our best writers.”

—Karen Russell,

author of The Antidote and Swamplandia!

“One of the writers you would be tempted to read regardless of the setting of the period or the plot or even the genre.”

—Bloomsbury Review

“A true original.”

—Emily St. John Mandel,

author of Sea of Tranquility and Station Eleven

“A sharp, unsettling memoir that begins with a family legend and expands into looted art, Cold War secrets, and the lives women aren’t allowed to tell. Terese Svoboda writes with wit, rigor, and emotional bite. I read it as a journalist and daughter-in-law — and couldn’t look away.”

—Laurie Gwen Shapiro, author of The Aviator and the Showman,

“What a bold, vibrant, and intensely original book this is.”

—Joan Silber, author of Mercy

“Wit, imagination, and marked acumen about our on-going preoccupation with censorship, witch hunts, and truth-telling vs. fakery makes this provocative memoir a highly engaging read.”

—Carolyn Burke, author of Lee Miller

“A breathtakingly broad look at the history and significance of war and restitution, art and ownership, family and responsibility, truth and memory."

—Carolyn Edy, author of The Woman Correspondent, the U.S. Military, and the Press, 1846–1947