Book Of Ruth

"Bitterness is unbecoming of a woman, but I cherish mine like the memory of first love. I see nothing in Leon Wagner, but an automaton. He is a machine of the Third Reich. I am surprised he even bleeds."

In the summer of 1945, the world rejoices at the surrender of first Germany then Japan, but healing is a long time coming. Though they are not visible, Ruth Tucker's wounds run deep. Having worked as a nurse for the American Red Cross since the invasion of Normandy, Ruth's hatred for her country's former enemy runs deep. While stationed in Zell am See, Austria, she is assigned to nurse in a German POW camp. She meets a young Wehrmacht soldier, Leon Wagner, who speaks English and strives to spark a friendship with her. But Ruth's bitterness is almost too strong. All she sees in Leon is a heartless machine. Slowly, through a shared love of books and their families, she begins to recognize his humanity and starts to feel her own stir in her heart, something she thought long deadened by the months of violence.