When Johannes Böhme’s grand mother passes away, he cannot shake the strong sense of relief. He loved her, but he could never make sense of her strangeness. He found her quirks exhausting, her fears irrational. But when he discovers love letters from a certain Hermann Bartens, written to her from Stalingrad, he is starting to understand. Going through photos, he discovers a smile that he had never seen on her face before. ShiŒfting between past and present, a tragic family story unfolds. The author skillfully weaves together his own search for an explanation, his grand mother’s unusual life choices and a young man's excruciating experiences ˆfighting for the Wehrmacht in WWII.