The first section follows Itzik Frieder, who is persecuted merely for being born a Jew in pre-war Poland, 1902. In the socially and religiously charged small town of Zokof, Itzik intercedes when he sees a brutish Polish peasant whipping three small Jewish children on their way home from their studies. Because of his actions, the peasant is accidentally killed and when the Polish mob comes looking for revenge, he hides in the Jewish graveyard and prays for God to save him. His prayers release the spirit of Friedl Alterman, a childless woman who died at age 83 just the year before.

Friedl watches over young Itzik as he makes his way out of Poland and to America, but Itzik, having completely denounced Judaism in favor of Socialism, cannot hear her voice – only her song. The story goes on to follow Itzik’s son, Nathan Linden, a university professor who takes his renouncing of his heritage to the next level by changing his last name to have a better chance at a teaching position. Nathan travels back to Poland for an educational conference and finds his way back to his father’s hometown of Zokof, where he meets the ‘last Jew’ left in the area.

Raphael, who also has a special connection with Friedl, serves as the bridge between father and son as he fills in the blanks of Nathan’s heritage and ancestry.

Nathan takes this knowledge back with him to America, but continues in the tradition of his father and doesn’t impart the knowledge he has gained in Zokof, but puts it in a cabinet and out of sight. It’s only when his own daughter is offered a position as a dancer in a prestigious Polish dance troupe that he opens up and tells her the story of her grandfather and Friedl.

Can the Leiber family, three generations later, finally be at peace with their religious heritage or must they – like Friedl – continue to wander the earth with no place to rest?

Rosenbaum completely submerges the reader in the history and rituals that surround Judaism, to the point where those not of Jewish decent can be made to feel much like an outsider in this foreign world.

However the story definitely begs the question, does history truly teach us nothing? In this age of entitlement, most Americans would have a hard time identifying with the extreme religious persecution that has raged across Europe for centuries.

Friedl, representing Judaism, continually tries to influence Itzik and Nathan to be true to their ancestry, but is largely ignored. So their faith, like Freidl, is left to float above them, waiting for a time when they will acknowledge it and finally embrace their heritage.

Overall, the messaging Rosenbaum is projecting is that as you may try to deny your ancestry, it will always been there to influence you in life. It takes a couple generations to get it right, but this journey of faith and history is a lesson to all that to deny your heritage is in essence to deny your very soul.

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