Secrets in the Shadows
Young Adult Fiction (Ages 12+), Historical Fiction
- Price
- $14.95
Best friends Michael and Wolfie are boys growing up in Nazi Germany. In this compelling novel, author Heige Boehm tackles the question of how children are taught to hate.
Although Michael and Wolfie are delighted to join the Hitler Youth, a devastating event turns their world upside down. On a school trip to Berlin, the boys see a beautiful Jewish girl boarding the train with her mother. Shortly after, a horrified Michael witnesses their brutal murder — the result of anti-Semitism. As a result, Michael’s loyalty to Hitler begins to show cracks. In 1943, when Michael turns sixteen, his father orders him to volunteer with the 12th SS Hitler Youth Panzer unit and Wolfie joins as well. Boehm shows them on the grim battlefields fighting hand-to-hand in the villages and towns. Seeing what is happening on the battlefield, they come to reject the Nazi regime and its propaganda. In the final showdown, Michael and Wolfie are ordered to travel to Berlin, and it is there they confront the secrets that lie in the shadows of the past.
Reviews
"This is a story that I guarantee will haunt the reader long after reaching the last page. Watching these children used as pawns in the games of evil men is heartbreaking, and Boehm’s descriptive text displays this in every line." —BC Review
“A gripping, at times chilling, wartime story. Secrets in the Shadows takes a familiar setting and dramatizes it from a fresh perspective: child-soldiers fighting Hitler's doomed war. A sad and moving tale.” —Daniel Kalla, best-selling author of The Far Side of the Sky
“Heige Boehm is not only a superb storyteller but a writer who knows the value of thorough research so that the reality of time and place and people shines from every page of her novel.” —Betty Keller, recipient of the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence
Book Details
Pub Date: January 2020
Trade Paperback
310 Pages
Print ISBN 9781553805724
E-book ISBN 9781553805731
6” x 9”
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