In the year 1930, Esther Hautzig made her entrance into the world as Esther Rudomin in the timeworn city of Vilna, then part of Poland. With the tides of war, Russia absorbed Vilna through the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact, and today it stands as the city of Vilnius within the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Rudomins were a family of thriving Jewish heritage, with Esther's father, Samuel Rudomin, practicing his craft as an engineer. The year 1941 marked a grim turn of fate for Esther, her parents, and her paternal grandmother, as they were forcibly relocated to the Siberian hamlet of Rubtsovsk in the Altai region, just north of Semipalatinsk. Although Rubtsovsk lies only a smidgen farther north than London, its remote isolation and brutal winters crafted a severe existence, especially for those exiled from their familiar lives and comforts.

Amidst the tumult of war, Esther's father was drafted into military service but was eventually reunited with Esther, her mother, and her grandmother upon the women's return to Poland in March of 1946. Their stay in Lodz was transient, as they soon traveled to the welcoming arms of Stockholm. Esther boldly ventured to the United States, where she found refuge with her mother's brother and his family. Her parents soon joined her across the Atlantic, while her grandmother set down roots in Israel. In the bustling realm of New York City, Esther Hautzig pursued her education and built a life with her husband, a concert pianist, and their two children. Inspired by the encouragement of American statesman Adlai Stevenson, who had once visited Rubtsovsk, Hautzig penned her memoir, The Endless Steppe.