Kati Marton tells a gripping true story of escape from Cold War Hungary

The year is 1955; most of the world has taken sides in the Cold War. In Budapest, behind the Iron Curtain, a little girl, 6 years old, lives one of the more privileged lives in that city. In an apartment on a tree-lined street on one of Buda’s hills, she is adored by her attractive parents, prominent journalists; she wears pink sweaters and cute shoes — patent-leather Mary Janes — from America; she loves going to school; she loves her playmates. But then, on an icy February night at 2 in the morning, the light goes on in the room she shares with her sister, and life changes forever.