Mario brings his family to the convent because they have nowhere else to go. People are looting the abandoned houses, and the “Blackshirt Brigades, Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism, and the Fascist House” groups are patrolling the streets working for the Gestapo. Angelo also brings several others, bringing the convent to capacity and stretching their supplies. Angelo gives the refugees a “crash course in Catholicism” (185) in case the authorities raid the convent. Giulia is sick and can’t nurse the baby, so Angelo finds a mother who has lost her child and brings her to the convent as a wet nurse. Angelo continues to do his work, though the police have become increasingly suspicious. He refuses to let Eva help.

Eva takes Mario’s violin to see if she can barter for supplies. On the street, she sees a German officer sitting on a bench. Ignoring her father’s advice to remain “invisible,” she sits near the officer, daring him to see her. When he sees her violin, he asks her to play. She pretends she doesn’t understand his German. He pulls his gun and points it at her face, demanding she play. Eva plays “Ave Maria,” and the officer begins to weep. He throws himself into an oncoming streetcar and dies by suicide. More officers appear, and onlookers point to Eva, saying she pushed the officer into the car. They grab her and demand to see her papers. She denies pushing him, but they arrest her anyway.

The officers take Eva to a building on Via Tasso, which they are using as a prison. They leave her in a dark cell for hours. They bring her to a Captain von Essen, who questions her about what happened on the street. She tells the truth, and the Captain says others corroborated her story. He asks her to play the violin, but he stops her soon after she begins. Since Eva can speak German, the Captain asks her to work for him six days a week as a typist and secretary. The idea is horrifying, but Eva can only say yes. Angelo, whom they think is her brother, waits for her outside. The Captain requests a car to take them home, and someone will pick up Eva on Monday to bring her to work. Angelo gives the officer their address, but the location is unfamiliar to Eva.

Eva writes in her journal on November 10, 1943. She confesses that before the war, she did not pray. Now she prays to feel closer to her family. Though she and Angelo have different names for God, she believes in the power of prayer to help people.

It isn’t safe for the officer to drive them to Angelo’s house, so they go instead to The Church of the Sacred Heart, where Eva can tell him what happened. She recounts the story of the German officer who jumped in front of the streetcar and tells Angelo about the job offer from the Captain. Angelo insists she run away, but she says she can be a spy and use the job to continue helping Jewish people. Angelo argues, but Eva says, “Resistance is all I have left […]” (202). Angelo begins to pray, asking God to work through his weakness. He prays David’s prayer of confession from Psalm 51, in which King David confesses to God after having sinned with Bathsheba. Eva is also praying because it’s Shabbat. She explains to him the symbolism in the way she prays with her hands tipped toward the candle for purification.

Angelo confesses that, though he can’t have her, he continues to pursue her. Eva argues that their world is so full of hate and pain that they shouldn’t deny themselves the opportunity to love each other. They are already living double lives, so why not be together? Angelo can’t get past the thought that being with Eva is a sin. She walks away to sleep alone.

Eva writes in her diary on November 25, 1943. She has been working at Via Tasso for the Germans for two weeks. She tries not to think about what is happening in the cells. Angelo checks on her nightly to make sure she’s returned to the convent safely. She understands the danger of her position but hopes she can help in some way.

Florence has become dangerous, so Angelo travels there to bring Aldo back to Rome and check on his grandparents. The streets of Florence are a warzone as the Black Shirts aid the Gestapo in rounding up Jewish people. Some are executed on the spot, while others are loaded into train cars. Angelo hides Aldo in the seminary while he goes to find his grandparents. When he arrives at their home, the Gestapo—along with a man Angelo knows, Georgio De Luca, now a Black Shirt—are questioning Santino and Fabia about Eva. Santino and Fabia claim they haven’t seen Eva in months. Angelo lies, saying that she may be in Naples with her fiancé. Georgio doesn’t believe him and claims he saw Eva and Angelo together in September. Angelo pretends to be oblivious. Georgio warns Angelo that helping Eva will also make him a target. After the police leave, Angelo tells his grandparents that they must leave Florence immediately.

Back in Rome, the Captain asks Eva where she lives, and she gives her carefully crafted answer, also explaining why she doesn’t live with Angelo. He asks if there are any Jewish people where she lives, and Eva plays dumb, pretending that she wouldn’t know how to identify a Jew. The Captain orders her to turn in any Jewish people she finds, promising that she will be rewarded. Eva sickens at the prospect, having heard stories of a Jewish woman who turned in Jewish people to save herself. The Captain wants her to begin leaving earlier each day so she doesn’t have to walk home in the dark. Eva worries about telling Angelo about the captain, as she knows he is protective of her. He once told her that the reason he asked her to stop visiting him at the seminary was that the other students were making inappropriate comments about her, and he punched them. However, Angelo needs to know of the Captain’s interest in capturing Jewish people, as the Germans know Monsignor O’Flaherty is running the Roman underground, and they have already executed one of his workers. Eva tries not to think about her father. She feels it would be better if her were dead because she can’t bear the thought of him suffering. It is better for her as a spy to have no one she loves left alive.

Eva discovers a barrel full of the gold the Germans confiscated from the Jewish community. Seeing it stashed in a closet infuriates Eva, as she thinks of the lies it represents. She finds Giulia’s ring and takes it back to her, then takes a gold file and hides it in her shoe. Then she grabs handfuls of the gold to give to Angelo and Monsignor O’Flaherty, feeling that doing so brings some justice to the situation.

On December 15, 1943, Eva writes in her journal about becoming a thief. Angelo is angry with her for putting herself in danger, but is thankful for the gold. Eva returns Giulia’s ring, and Mario thinks they should find a way to steal the entire barrel. Though Angelo agrees that the gold could help save many Jewish people, he isn’t willing to risk Eva’s safety. Eva keeps the file in her shoe.

Angelo uses the gold to purchase food, supplies, and Christmas gifts for those hiding in churches around Rome. Angelo tells Monsignor O’Flaherty how Eva found the gold. He wants Eva to go with them to deliver the gifts and play her violin. The next day, Eva dresses as a nun and accompanies the priests to deliver the gifts to the refugees, many of whom are children. Eva’s violin playing is moving, and Monsignor O’Flaherty can see that it profoundly affects Angelo.

The war rages on into January of 1944 as the Allies struggle to gain a foothold in Italy. Groups of Jewish people begin gathering for worship services in the catacombs once used by Christians fleeing persecution in Rome. Eva treasures these services as she marvels at the new community forming among these refugees, which she compares to the sand and ash her father used to make glass. “With every song and with every prayer, with every small rebellion, Eva felt renewed, and she vowed to press on” (232). She continues to steal the gold and give it to Angelo. Eva becomes friends with Greta von Essen, the captain’s wife. One day, after having lunch together, Greta sees an abandoned bookshop, once owned by Italian Jewish people, now shuttered and locked. She procures the key to search for a treasure her husband could present to Hitler. While inside, Eva discovers a hidden door that leads to an underground workspace that contains a printing press. She keeps it a secret but steals the key when they leave. This will allow Aldo to resume falsifying identifications.