A novel.

The story of a lonely older man and his devoted young caretaker who transform each other's lives in ways they could never have imagined. Ernst is a gruff seventy-year-old Red Army veteran from Ukraine who landed, almost by accident, in Israel after World War II. Irena is the unmarried thirty-six-year-old daughter of Holocaust survivors who has been taking care of Ernst since his surgery two years ago. As Ernst becomes mired in depression, he seems to lose the will to live. As Irena becomes an increasingly important part of his life--moving into his home, encouraging him in his work, easing his pain--Ernst not only regains his sense of self but realizes, to his amazement, that Irena is in love with him. And, even more astonishing, he discovers that he is in love with her"--,Provided by publisher.