Red Stars

Some are heroes because they leave and save the world… Some are heroes because they stay, and hold on.”

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.

• The adventure of two twins, from their separation to their long journey to reunite, set against the backdrop of World War II.
• An intense and immediate narrative style that allows the reader to empathize and connect emotionally with the protagonists through the pages of their diaries.
• Winner of the In Other Words – Book in Translation award from Book Trust, London.