An Eagle in the Snow
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- 8,99 €
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- 8,99 €
Publisher Description
The powerful new novel from the master storyteller – inspired by the true story of one man who might have stopped World War II.
1940. The train is under attacks from German fighters. In the darkness, sheltering in a railway tunnel, the stranger in the carriage with Barney and his mother tells them a story to pass the time.
And what a story. The story of a young man, a young soldier in the trenches of World War I who, on the spur of the moment, had done what he thought was the right thing.
It turned out to have been the worst mistake he ever could have made – a mistake he must put right before it is too late…
Reviews
“Brilliant, fascinating and intriguing. Historical fiction at its most magnificent.” Jackie French
“Handled with Morpurgo's usual zip and feeling.” The Sunday Times
“Has the feel of a classic already: quality storytelling.” The Irish Times
“Gripping stuff, the only snag is that the reader is likely to be so engrossed that all hopes of convivial company for Christmas will have to be abandoned until they've finished the last chapter.” Evening Echo (Ireland)
About the author
Michael Morpurgo OBE is one of Britain's best-loved writers for children, and has sold more than 35 million books around the world. He has written more than 150 novels and won many prizes, including the Smarties Prize, the Whitbread Award and the Blue Peter Book Award, while several of his books have been adapted for stage and screen, including the global theatrical phenomenon War Horse. Michael was Children’s Laureate from 2003 to 2005, and founded the charity Farms for City Children with his wife, Clare. He was knighted in 2018 for services to literature and charity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
What if a British soldier had a chance to shoot Hitler on a WWI battlefield but opted to let him go instead? Morpurgo's incisive historical novel draws inspiration from the life of Henry Tandey, the war's most decorated British private, who allegedly had just such an encounter. Naming his protagonist Billy Byron, Morpurgo tells the story in flashbacks, as a boy named Barney and his mother flee Coventry on a London-bound train in 1940. Another passenger, who introduces himself as one of Billy's lifelong friends, describes Billy's self-doubt, guilt, and dismay when lingering battle wounds prevented him from serving in WWII, since "as far as Billy was concerned, this whole war is his fault." The stranger's descriptions of Billy's compassion and emotional turmoil are gripping in their own right, but Morpurgo will catch some readers off guard with supernaturally tinged twists he drops in the final chapters and epilogue. Originally published in the U.K. in 2015, this is an intricately crafted contemplation of the wrenching consequences of good intentions gone awry. Ages 10 14.
