A 20 year old Dutchman joins the Italian Resistance to the Nazi occupation of Northern Italy. As a courier for the underground headquarters of the partisan movement he is captured by the Gestapo who find on him military intelligence documents for transmission to Allied headquarters in Southern Italy. He is deported to the notorious Nazi extermination camp of Mauthausen in Austria. In a daring nighttime escape from the cattle train speeding through icy snowbound mountains he goes on to survive by the skin of his teeth in heart stopping encounters with enemy soldiers and policemen. At war's end the leader of the Resistance becomes the first prime minister of liberated Italy and appoints him to his staff. The young Dutchman gets an inside view of the workings of government and politics as Italy faces overwhelming problems of reconstruction. The events in Walter's odyssey are highlighted by telling observations and reflections on the broader picture of what is happening in that final phase of the war. Along with the personal emotions and the constant tension and fear he feels as he faces one danger after another there are revealing observations about the dramatic impact the war has on the average people he meets, their fears, suspicions and understandable attitudes of self-protection as he seeks their help in this incredible journey of survival. Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best of 2012, noting: "While large scale accounts of WWII will provide a more comprehensive overview of its conflicts, De Hoog's firsthand version teems with humanity not often found in such surveys. It's written with the same measures of ethical commitment and intelligence that seem to have helped him outpace his German persecutors. A lush, unsparing narrative that honors history ans emotion."