OPERATION BLACKOUT

Konrad Friedmann is forced by the Gestapo to go on a dangerous mission to save his family from being shot. They reckon a child saboteur will go unnoticed, and as Konrad is half English and bilingual, he's the perfect candidate. Hannah is left without family or home in the London blitz. After a terrifying encounter with a stranger during a night time raid, she decides to leave London. On impulse she boards a train to Great Deeping in eastern England. Little does she know that she has knowledge that will put her in great danger. Hannah and Konrad's paths will cross in this tense thriller involving enemy sabotage, treachery and counter espionage. Victor Watson spent much of his professional life teaching children's literature at Cambridge University. He has reviewed many children's books, and edited and co-edited several academic works on aspects of children's literature from the eighteenth century to the present day. He is the editor of The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English, and has been a Trustee and Chairman of Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books in Newcastle. When writing his own books, Victor has found that his early memories of a wartime childhood in the East Anglian fens are a rich source of narrative material. PARADISE BARN, the first book in the Paradise Barn series, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award for Outstanding First Novel and his book EVERYONE A STRANGER won the children's category at the East Anglian Award.