Age Group: 9 - 12 Years

Description:

War's fury erupts around a Belgian ridge in WWI, where four souls converge beneath a lone, defiant walnut tree. Farmgirl Lotte flees her razed village with sister and neighbor Michael, seeking shelter amid shellfire. Indian gunner Khudadad Khan—Victoria Cross hero—holds the line against German onslaughts. Traumatized teenage cavalryman Ernst stumbles from trenches, his horse lost, dreams shattered. A timeless tree witnesses all. Jamila Gavin's Nero Award-winning masterpiece (2025), Telegraph's all-time children's top 50—"flawless"—weaves their voices into a luminous tapestry of shared humanity amid carnage. From Coram Boy creator, this true-story-inspired novel (ages 10+) reveals light piercing war's darkness: courage across uniforms, refuge in nature, souls intertwined. Beneath sheltering branches, enemies become brothers, proving even battlefields birth unbreakable bonds.