The novel was published in 2003 and tells the story of a young woman from Prijedor, an unfinished literature student at the University of Zagreb, a partisan nurse, a German prisoner from Kozara, who was interrogated in Prijedor and tortured in the Auschwitz camp - a dreamer and patriot, a sufferer and hero, a person who never loses faith and hope, Borka Kovačević.
Parallel to the main life story, the novel also follows the life of Borka’s brother, Jovica Kovačević, who, after the occupation, flees Belgrade and joins the Kozara partisans, fights and is wounded, but survives the war. There is also their father Radovan, an organizer of the uprising and a fighter, who also experiences great suffering, and their mother Darinka, who endures tragedy like many Kozara women...
Besides these main characters, there are also Vera Đenadija, a woman who rescues Jovica Kovačević on the road from Belgrade to Prijedor; Lieutenant Fritz Lichter, who cannot forgive himself for capturing Borka; soldier Karl Kasmander, who tries to help the main heroine escape from the Prijedor prison but pays with his life; Major Wiedenmann, the commander of the city of Prijedor, who is also tormented by inner dilemmas; agent Poklepović, a sold-out soul, and many others.
The novel depicts the horrors of the Auschwitz camp, where the daughter and mother stand out -Frenchwomen Monique and Jeanne Prévert, and Polish woman Zuzanna Urbanowa; among them is the camp commander Rudolf Hess, a torturer; Doctor Mengele, the "scientist," and his loyal assistant, the mad Wilhelm Tell.