How could a young Protestant woman in war-torn Germany in the 1940s fall in love with both a naval captain in the Third Reich, and a Jewish-American counterintelligence officer? Ruth Pein was not concerned with politics until the war forced her to face the devastating consequences for her homeland and her life, which included her grappling with two very different romantic alliances.

In Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago, Ruth tells her story based on the handwritten journals she kept of the events and emotions of growing up in her cherished hometown of Erfurt, and how the choices between love and loyalty meant attempting a daring escape.