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Waiting for Anya

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Language
  
English

Publication date
  
1990

ISBN
  
0-434-95205-2

Author
  
Michael Morpurgo

Page count
  
178

3.9/5
Goodreads

Publisher
  
William Heinemann Ltd.

Pages
  
178

Originally published
  
1990

Genre
  
Historical Fiction

Country
  
United Kingdom

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Media type
  
Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Similar
  
Works by Michael Morpurgo, The Holocaust books

Waiting for anya


Waiting for Anya is a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo, first published in Great Britain in 1990, by William Heinemann. It is set in Lescun, in a mountainous region of southern France on the border with Spain. It was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

Contents

Characters

  • Jo - The main character, a small shepherd boy.
  • Benjamin - A Jew who smuggles other Jews across the border to Spain. He lost his daughter Anya, and is waiting for her to arrive in Lescun.
  • Widow Horcada - A secretive old widow and Benjamin's mother in law. She is grumpy, but has a strong moral code.
  • Grandpere- Jo's grandfather; involved in the smuggling of children.
  • Hubert - A kind handicapped boy who is very good friends with Jo.
  • Papa - Jo's father, a prisoner of war (POW), who is in a German prison for most of the story and helps Jo smuggle the children to Spain.
  • Summary

    The novel is set in the French Lescun during the Second World War.

    Jo Lalande is a young shepherd who is enjoying his childhood; but when his father goes to fight in the war, Jo has to become the man of the house. After an incident with a bear, Jo meets a mysterious man in the forest. He follows the man to his home and learns his secret - he is a Jew named Benjamin who is waiting for his daughter Anya to come find him as they were split from each other and he is responsible for smuggling Jewish children to safety across the border into Spain, with the help of his mother-in-law, the Widow Horcada. Jo starts to help them and to prove that he can be trusted.

    German soldiers move into town, and things becomes much more difficult. Although most of the town's inhabitants come to accept the German occupation, the task of getting the Jewish children across the border becomes more dangerous. Jo, his grandfather Henri, Benjamin and the Widow Horcada devise a plan to get the children across. The plan requires the whole town to help the children escape, and relies on the German soldiers not noticing what is happening. But if they are caught, their lives will not be worth living...

    One question remains unanswered. Where is Anya?

    References

    Waiting for Anya Wikipedia