Michal is smitten. Then the Nazi death train comes for her family. Can he save her?
Present-day Idaho.
Jodi yearns for summer break. Awkward and friendless, she is constantly being humiliated by the class bully. Even the orchestra teacher singles her out for ridicule. After an embarrassing altercation with her nemesis, Jodi flees into an unknown neighborhood and is trapped in a sudden thunderstorm. A frail old man whisks her into the safety of his cozy home. Jodi's simple question regarding a photo on the mantel prompts the old man to reveal his harrowing wartime story.
1943 German-occupied Poland.
Michal lives a privileged and sheltered life in war-ravaged Warsaw. On his fourteenth birthday, he meets and is smitten with the daughter of his powerful father's Jewish assistant. When Michal learns that the occupants of the Jewish ghetto are being herded to the train station to be taken to the camps, he races to the depot. In a moment of chaos, and without a plan, he grabs the girl by the wrist and whisks her from the station-but not without a hasty promise to her father to keep her safe. As the duo flee from one danger right into the next, what lengths will Michal go to honor that promise?
And decades later, will the story of Michal's horrific and dangerous act under the eyes of the ruthless Nazis give Jodi the confidence she needs to navigate the unfriendly halls of junior high and sow the seeds for her future?
Fans of Ruta Sepetys and Alan Grantz will be captivated by Michal's journey.
Formerly published as
Mr. K's Sonata
.