Olga. A story of peace in wartime

Two very young lives overturned by the war, fighting to stay human.

1943. Olga Boldireva is a 13-year-old Russian girl, captured and taken to Germany to work as a nanny for a local family. Hans Kemp, also 13, is the eldest son of that very household. When Olga arrives, she is full of anger and resentment; Hans, on the other hand, is a cheerful boy trying to make sense of the world falling apart around him. Despite the neighbors’ scorn, the Kemp family welcomes Olga as one of their own and treats her with kindness and respect. Hans is eventually swept into the machinery of war — and at just 14, he is sent to the front.
While Olga begins to find peace and even love in the bond she forms with another prisoner, Hans experiences the brutality of combat, the death of a close friend, and the collapse of his unit. He deserts and walks home, changed to the core. When the war finally ends, both Olga and Hans must face the invisible wounds it has left behind — and find a way to live with them.

• A true story of the author’s family (Kemp is an invented name: in reality, Olga was sent to a family named Hill).
• A condemnation of war, death and destruction, but pointing a finger above all at the effect of war on people’s humanity, regardless of who they side with.