Chapter One

Gina's dog gave a sharp yip, rose from the front step of the whitewashed cottage, and hobbled forward on the three legs with which he'd been born. He sniffed the hot afternoon air and growled, his copper-colored fur rising like bristles on his back.

"Hush, Treia," Gina said. "It's only me."

He met her at the step and set about investigating her shoes, her shins.

"It's okay. That smell, it's just Teodor." She set down a sack of red potatoes and patted her dog's head. "Look what he got me."

Treia's attention turned to her hand, where the juice of fresh blackberries stained a brown paper bundle. He caught the first offering from her fingertips and chased the second across the stone pathway.

"And all it cost me was a kiss," Gina whispered.

A kiss that had tasted like goat's milk on Teo's lips, like cut grass. Not unpleasant. Not at all. The flutters in her tummy had told her she was becoming an adult, and it was true that she would be turning twelve in a matter of hours. A woman, by Jewish standards.

"Gina," her mother called from inside. "Bring the sack here. How am I to make ciorba without potatoes?"

"sorry, Mamica."

"Why the delay? I hope you weren't talking to that boy again."

Gina pushed the bundle into the pocket of her handmade dress, then carried her burden into the kitchen area where Nicoleta was bent over the oven. Scents of parsley and celery root laced the air. Lunch would be stuffed cabbage and vegetable soup.

"Set it down."

She obeyed. Took a moment to scratch at a bite below h