World War II was in its final stage, with foreign troops pouring in to occupy a broken Germany.  For those in the west this was thrilling relief.  The bombing would cease and order would soon be established by United States and British troops.

In the east, however, particularly in Prussia, the farthest northeastern state, a nightmare was descending.  The Red Army was arriving—the Soviet troops feared by all for their brutality and destruction, the raping of women, and the transporting of people into Siberian slavery.

In droves Germans left their homes, fleeing west to safety.  Many succeeded; they had left in time.  For others—for Heidi Howell and her mother—it was too late.  Homeless in the bitter cold winter of 1945, trying desperately to leave Prussia amidst unbelievable hardships, Heidi and her mother finally succeed in crossing the Baltic, but too late to escape the Red tide.

World War II forever changed a continent—and all the children and adults who lived through it.  Home to Freedom is not a history book but an autobiographical account.  It is the story of a young, upper-class Prussian girl ripped from her home and the safety of her whole family, left to face the unknown atrocities awaiting her with the Russian army.  It is the story of a child of war.