Gerta’s father and brother visit West Berlin when the Berlin wall went up, nearly over night, trapping Gerta, her mother and second brother in East Berlin and separating their family for four long years. Meanwhile, the Stasi police has bugged their apartment so the family cannot talk freely in their own home about the government’s horrific control. Then Gerta spots her father on the other side of the wall signaling her to dig. Getting a secret note from her father, she realizes the location and risks her life to dig an underground tunnel under the width of the wall to freedom. Excitement and danger mixed with complications and setbacks make this book a great read.