<p>DianeTuckman and Cecile Spiegel fled religious persecution with WWII conflicts attheir heels. Separately from Egypt and from Germany each leaped continentscultures and languages as a refugee before finding a new home in the UnitedStates. Hiding in plain sight in France Cecile eluded capture by the Nazis butlost many dear to her. Diane came of age there far from the Mediterraneanidyll of her childhood in Egypt. They relied on family faith and resilience toovercome the otherness felt by displaced peoples. As they dictated their memoirsto one another Diane and Cecile discovered the anatomy of their friendship intheir parallel odysseys and the optimism of 20th-century American womanhood.</p>