Anna and the Swallow Man - Tapa dura

"A chilling, stylishly written and utterly memorable story" (Guardian, Best New Children's Books 2016)

"A small wonder, and for once a book worthy of the hype" (Alex O'Connell Times)

"The breakout WWII drama . . . is causing quite the stir amongst both adults and the pre-teens it’s aimed at" (Stylist - 'Your Essential 2016 Reading List')

"Tense, moving, original and skilled, this phenomenal debut will seize sophisticated readers" (Nicolette Jones Sunday Times - Children's Book of the Week)

"It sometimes seems there can be no stories left to tell about the anguish of Nazi-occupied countries in 1939-45 but the debut novel by Gavriel Savit makes the territory new." (Observer)

Anna and the Swallow Man is a stunning, literary, and wholly original debut novel that tells a new WW2 story.

Kraków, 1939, is no place to grow up. There are a million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. And Anna Lania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father and suddenly, she’s alone.

Then she meets the Swallow Man. He is a mystery, strange and tall. And like Anna's missing father, he has a gift for languages: Polish, Russian, German, Yiddish, even Bird. When he summons a bright, beautiful swallow down to his hand to stop her from crying, Anna is entranced.

Over the course of their travels together, Anna and the Swallow Man will dodge bombs, tame soldiers, and even, despite their better judgement, make a friend. But in a world gone mad, everything can prove dangerous . . .