Anna At War

Daniel's grandmother has never told him much about what happened to her during the war. He knows she came to England on the Kindertransport to escape the Nazis but he doesn't know about her time as an emigree in rural Sussex or her role in capturing a German spy sent to kill Winston Churchill. This is her story.

I walked back to the barn. We had left the door slightly ajar, and I slipped through the gap. My plimsolls made no sound on the dirt floor.

I heard sounds from the loft, as though the injured man was rummaging in his haversack.

He was muttering to himself. My stomach turned over. I stopped dead still.

No. It couldn't be. I must have heard wrong.

I stayed completely still, listening, my heart thumping. He was still rummaging, but he had stopped muttering.

Something rolled across the loft and dropped over the edge on to the barn floor. The man swore.

My blood froze in my veins.

He had sworn in German.

Auteur

Helen Peters grew up on an old-fashioned farm in Sussex, surrounded by family, animals and mud. She spent most of her childhood reading stories and putting on plays in a tumbledown shed that she and her friends turned into a theatre. After university, she became an English and Drama teacher. Helen lives with her husband and children in London, and she can hardly believe that she now gets to call herself a writer.

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Nominated for the 2020 CILIP Carnegie Medal

The Times Children's Book of the Week

A captivating wartime story of bravery, adventure and hope.

As life for German Jews becomes increasingly perilous, Anna's parents put her on a train leaving for England. But the war follows her to Kent, and soon Anna finds herself caught up in a web of betrayal and secrecy. How can she prove whose side she's on when she can't tell anyone the truth? But actions speak louder than words, and Anna has a dangerous plan... A brilliant and moving wartime adventure from the author of Evie's Ghost. Cover illustration by Daniela Terrazzini.

"Because I believed in Anna, her war came alive for me. Her struggle, her bravery, all those things were completely real and I read the book overnight, unable to put it down. Magnificent, brilliant, heartbreaking." - Fleur Hitchcock, author of Murder in Midwinter

"A fast-paced adventure, whose elegant prose and cliffhanger chapters should keep even less confident readers gripped to the thrilling end." - Emily Bearn, The Daily Telegaph

"It's a tale of bravery and loss that Helen Peters (Evie's Ghost) sets out with the light touch that only rigorous research allow.... Peters tells Anna's story of escape with great humanity, and this novel is an excellent way to whet young appetites for classics such as When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr and Carrie's War by Nina Bawden." - Alex O'Connell, The Times, Children's Book of the Week

"Anna at War is a gripping, moving piece of historical fiction." - Imogen Russell Williams, The Guardian

"Moving and utterly enthralling" - Lissa Evans

"Helen Peters balances adventure and intrigue with this emotional coming-of-age story." - Emma Dunn and Sarah Mallon, The Scotsman