Based on true accounts, A Thread of Grace traces the journeys of several Jewish families excaping Nazi invasion through the Italian alps. It also chronicles the lives, loves and disappointments of an Italian Jewish operative, his childhood sweetheart and family as well as the life and inner workings of the mind of an AWOL Wehrmacht doctor. Until reading this book, I had not heard of the trek many Belgian Jews made into Italy during WWII. The characters, while many, are realistically portrayed - particularly on an emotional level. You can smell the mustiness of the Jewish rabbi's study, feel the heat and dust of the trail and tense at the threat of discovery. A brilliant saga!