'A breakthrough into the top league for Dowswell, a hugely impressive thriller set during the Second World War There will be many adults sneakily borrowing this from their children' The Bookseller 'Doswell is one of the best new writers of historical fiction for children [Auslander] steps outside the victim culture of novels such as those by Morris Gleitzman and comes close to classics such as 'The Silver Sword'. Admirers of 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' should look at this novel as a model of imaginative sympathy' The Times 'An exceptional novel, persuasive in its details, with an utterly compelling story and powerful message' Waterstones Books Quarterly 'Auslander is a superlative, at times almost agonisingly compelling, piece of historical fiction The climactic escape to freedom is pure muck-sweat tension' The Financial Times