Sha­la­ma didn’t think she had a sto­ry to tell. When her grand­daugh­ter arrives home from col­lege, tape recorder in hand, the events of Shalama’s life pour forth with emo­tion and clar­i­ty. Born in Harbin, Chi­na, in 1928, a decade after her Jew­ish Russ­ian fam­i­ly set­tled there, young Sha­la­ma enjoys the sanc­tu­ary of a Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty far from pogroms and rev­o­lu­tion. 

Harbin, a remote town bor­der­ing Rus­sia, rapid­ly changed from a fish­ing vil­lage into a sophis­ti­cat­ed Euro­pean city. Sev­er­al thou­sand Jews crowd­ed into the city, still dream­ing of set­tling in a Jew­ish state. By 1940, the Japan­ese occu­pa­tion forced Sha­la­ma and fam­i­ly to move to Shang­hai. 

Every­day events and deci­sions required to remain on an even keel are the core of Shalama’s sto­ry. Sha­la­ma shares the feel of dan­ger­ous times and a chaot­ic world. The family’s escape from Shang­hai final­ly brings them to a safe haven in Amer­i­ca. At the end of Shalama’s life, an unex­pect­ed turn of events pro­vides a final piece to the puz­zle which brings clo­sure to the incred­i­ble sto­ry of her life.