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A brilliant historical YA that asks: how do you choose between survival and doing the right thing? The arrival of the Soviet army in Germany at the end of World War II sends sixteen-year-old Katja and her family into turmoil. The fighting has stopped, but German society is in collapse, resulting in tremendous hardship. With their father gone and few resources available to them, Katja and her sister are forced to flee their home, reassured by their mother that if they can just reach a distant friend in a town far away, things will get better. But their harrowing journey brings danger and violence, and Katja needs to summon all her strength to build a new life, just as she's questioning everything she thought she knew about her country. Katja's bravery and defiance help her deal with the emotional and societal upheaval. But how can she stay true to herself and protect the people she loves when each decision has such far-reaching consequences? Acclaimed writer Michelle Barker's second novel explores the chaos and destruction of the Second World War from a perspective rarely examined in YA fiction--the implications of the Soviet occupation on a German population grappling with the horrors of Nazism and its aftermath.
"So many words had been turned upside down over the past six years of war. To me it seemed like the bravest act in the world to refuse to do something if it was wrong."
My Long List of Impossible Things | 
