Due chooses to tell an important and difficult tale, and does so with expert control of word, line, pace, character, and plot. I don't feel I can write a review that would say anything that another review hasn't already said. This book is heartbreaking and heartwarming, haunting and horrifying, maddening and moving, invigorating and powerful, vital and totally alive. It's a breath of life and a punch in the gut and an engrossing page-turner, everything one might want from historical fiction.