Maybe luck isn't just chance

Born into a middle-class doctor's family, the young Ruth Lilienstein was raised in Hamburg, studied law, and found herself drawn increasingly toward the ideals of the Communist Party. When Hitler came to power in 1933, she had to flee because of her political activism, not because she was Jewish; she settled in Holland, where she remained until late 1945. There she worked for the Swiss consul, acquiring a Swiss passport and thus protection.

When the Nazis occupied Amsterdam, she was able to continue vital work helping many refugees get visas out of Europe, fix their passports, hide their families, even risking her own life by going back into Nazi Germany. Eventually she found herself in danger and was hidden by a Dutch family in the countryside.

Soon after the end of the war, Ruth returned to Hamburg, where she married the journalist Heinz Liepman. In 1949 they started what would become one of the most respected literary agencies in the world. Ruth runs the agency to this day, and she includes in this book many thoughts and reflections on her years working with books and authors.