Frances Bartkows­ki has pub­lished three books of lit­er­ary crit­i­cism, essays and poet­ry; this is her first nov­el. She teach­es lit­er­a­ture and cul­ture at Rut­gers Uni­ver­si­ty-Newark, and has par­tic­i­pat­ed in selec­tive sem­i­nars at the USH­MM in recent years.