April 1939. Warsaw, Poland. To the casual observer, the houses on Podwale Street look very much alike. Yet at 16 Podwale, nothing is as it seems. Within, the walls hold many secrets that could destroy the lives of its inhabitants as they witness the city’s ever-mounting tide of Nazism. Wealthy recluse Elwira Malinowska is more an observer than participant in life. In her seclusion at 16 Podwale, she watches the world pass her by. Then Raz Zielinsky comes to work as a housemaid for her father, and Elwira’s life is suddenly divisible by two -- the time before Raz and the time after. Years pass, and the women become lovers. They depend on each other. Elwira is Raz’s protector, and Raz is Elwira’s conduit to the outside world, where people speak of nothing but the continual threat of war with Germany. Elwira, a steadfast Catholic, believes Pope Pius XII will intervene to save Poland from the rumblings of a maniac and an imminent invasion. But when the Pope fails to mediate peace and the political situation worsens, Elwira and Raz plan their escape to freedom.

The View from 16 Podwale Street

“There is news daily from the south,” he said, “from what was once Czechoslovakia, of labor camps and hundreds of civilian deaths. Every day the Gazeta is full of such stories.” 


“So this is why you have come,” she said. “What do you expect from me? What do you suggest I do?” The man was not a friend, not even someone she would consider an acquaintance. He was someone her father would have passed on the street and never invited into his home for any reason. Why had she?


“It was not my intention to upset you, Wira.”


Raz entered with a tea tray and placed it on the table between them. 


Elwira frowned at her, and Raz smirked back. What would Raz do next, Elwira wondered. Stick out her tongue? “Thank you, Raz. I should have thought to offer Borys tea.”


Chapter 14