At the start of this book, we’re introduced to Kat, a young girl who loves nothing more than to draw her comic books. Her parents work long hours and she’s often alone, and she’s feeling out of touch with her childhood best friend Gem, who is becoming more and more like a tyrant than a friend.

So when Kat gets talking to the old lady next door, it seems like a world will be opened to her that will make her feel less lonely. And the new boy that starts at school, it seems like they could be friends, if only Gem would stop involving Kat in her plans to bring him down.

Through Kat’s elderly next door neighbour, we’re transported to Poland in world war two, as Ania tells Kat the story of how she escaped from the clutches of the army on multiple occasions. Intermingled with this is the story of present day Kat, and also the comic book stories that she is writing.

Personally for me, I think the comic book story added a dimension too much – it was three different plot lines to keep up with and I ended up skim reading these bits to get back to the main storyline.

I loved this book, another kids book that felt quite raw for younger children and I would say would be more young adult, but then again, children need to know what happened before so we can ensure it doesn’t happen again.