Red Stars

whatever happens,
stay together.

Leningrad, 1941. Twins Viktor and Nadya are twelve years old when Hitler’s Germany declares war on the Soviet Union. Within a few days, all the children in the city are loaded onto special trains that take them to safety from the advancing enemy. However, by mistake, Viktor and Nadya end up on different trains and lose track of each other. Both begin writing in notebooks about what happens to them as the enemy advances: the freezing winter, famine, the despair of a people devastated by hunger and bombs; but also the warmth of friendship and the strength of hope. While Nadya finds herself defending a key position for the Soviet Resistance by any means necessary, Viktor crosses the vast Russian land on foot, facing all kinds of danger to complete his mission. In a Leningrad surrounded by a siege that will last almost nine hundred days, the Great History intertwines with that of Nadya and Viktor, determined to find each other at any cost and save their city.

• An epic mystery adventure, told in a unique format including diary entries, maps and photos, takes readers along on the harrowing journeys of two twelve-year- old siblings, separated just before the nazi siege of their city and each desperate to reunite with one another.
• Winner of the in other words Booktrust’s book in translation Award in London. Sortlisted for the Korney Chukovsky Award in Russia. Winner of the Penzberger Urmel prize in Germany and winner of the Zilveren Griffel in the Netherlands in 2021. Nominated for the Carnegie medal 2022 in the UK.