This novel is based in part on the Evian Conference, (Includes the names of all delegates to the conference pp308-316) where 32 nations met to discuss the problem of Austrian and German Jewish refugees. A central theme of the book is whether apathy as a response to evil is not itself a form of complicity. The author claims it is. In one interesting part of the story, a Jewish representative tries to purchase freedom for Jews under Gestapo sanction in exchange for hard currency