Returning to his quiet German village home after World War I, trained killer Fidelis Waldvogel, accompanied by his wife, leaves to start a new life in America and finds his life irrevocably changed by a new relationship.

"An historical novel set in 1914 that follows a family of German immigrants who trade city living for the harsh realities of Pennsylvania farm life. Among other challenges, anti-German sentiment spreads across America with the outbreak of World War I"--

The Meisenheimer family struggles to find their place among the colorful residents of their new American hometown, including a giant teenage boy, a pretty schoolteacher whose lessons consist of more than music, and a spiteful, bicycle-riding dwarf.

War is coming in Europe. At least that's what Frankie Baum heard on the radio. but from her small town in Maryland, in the wilting summer heat of 1939, the war is a world away. Besides, there are too many other things to think about. First, Frankie's father up and bought a restaurant with out telling anyone and now she has to help in the kitchen, when she'd rather be racing to Wexler's Five and Dime on her skates. Plus her favorite sister, dealy departed...