[1] As an infant she contracted bone tuberculosis and at the age of 3 her family sent her to a sanatorium in the French-speaking village of Leysin in the Swiss Alps, where Auguste Rollier had developed a therapy based on sunlight treatment.

[2] After Liselotte's family became unable to pay for her medical expenses in Switzerland due to restrictions on Jews being able to transfer funds abroad, Dr Rollier allowed for her to remain in the sanatorium.

When Liselotte last visited her parents in Usingen in 1937, she became aware that Nazism had a strong following in the area after suffering anti-Semitic abuse.

In the immediate post-war years, the college waived many of the normal entry requirements and attracted a large number of European refugees who had missed out on formal education.

It was there that she first met Ruth Klüger, a Holocaust survivor whose memoir Still Alive discusses Hunter and the start of what would be her lifelong friendship with Liselotte.

Upon losing her ability to speak, Rachel is overcome by a past of painful memories that contributes to the breakdown of her marriage and a series of reflections on her family and upbringing as a stateless person.