Author(s): Monique Charlesworth

Fiction.

Ilse, a half-Jewish girl, has been sent by her mother from Nazi Germany to safety. Trapped in France as war breaks out, she flees to marseilles. In a demi-monde of whores, freedom fighters anad refugees, this young girl adrift must find new loyalties - and grow up fast. In Germany, Lore, Ilse's mother, is now a nanny in an affluent household. She is befriended by Nicolai, a boy forced to jointhe Hitler Youth. The boy, who feels like a stranger in heisown land, discovers that his new friend has secret sorrows of her own.

The war years eat up their youth. Though hope grows in France, a dark tableau is unfolding in Germany, and this reluctant soldier and brave young girl must fight for their survival.