Edyta took a deep breath and sat down opposite her; the vegetables must wait. ‘And it will be the same answer. I do not wish to leave Hull and live with him and his family.’

‘But I do, Edyta.’ Her mother’s face was pale. She had not been out of the room for three years. ‘We cannot live here any longer. It is a prison. I hear the children downstairs and think that that is what you must have.’

Her daughter began to protest, but her mother interrupted. ‘You are still young enough to bear children, and if I leave to live with Ezra and his family you will be free.’

Edyta put her hands to her face. ‘Mutter,’ she said after a moment. ‘You know that I only want to marry one man and Ezra won’t agree to it. I cannot make that decision; it is too hard.’

‘It pains me to say it, Edyta, but you must. I give you the choice,’ her mother said softly. ‘Do not waste your life because of me. I will go with Ezra.’

‘He won’t let me visit you.’ Edyta began to cry. ‘I might never see you again.’ She left her chair and knelt by her mother’s feet. ‘We have been through so much together. I can’t let you leave …’ She smothered a sob. ‘If only I had never met Karl we wouldn’t have this dilemma.’

‘But you did meet him.’ Her mother stroked her smooth dark hair. ‘It was fate that he should be on the same ship, looking for a new life just as we were.’ She paused. ‘And he is a good man. He will look after you.’

Edyta couldn’t speak for a moment, but then said softly, ‘Yes, he would, but I’m not sure that I can take that step and leave the culture I have known.’

She dried her eyes and stood up, and began to gather the vegetables to chop and cook to eat with the cold chicken. ‘Why are you saying this now? We have discussed this problem so often.’

Her mother paused, and then said, ‘I didn’t tell you before, but I fell out of bed and couldn’t get up. Then I heard the family come in downstairs and called. The young woman, not much more than a girl herself, came up and was so kind; she said she had a friend with her and would ask her to help pick me up. Her friend was Jewish, Polish she said. They brought their youngest children upstairs because they were too young to leave alone, and I saw that the women were friends and the Kinder were too; they sat on the floor together as their mothers lifted me and made me comfortable.’

‘What are you saying, Mutter?’