LOIS LOWRY, author of over thirty novels and twice winner of the Newbery Medal for The Giver and Number the Stars,was born on the 20th of March 1937 in Hawaii. Her father was an Army dentist and the family lived all over the world. She went to Brown University, but left to get married and a raise a family of four children. She settled in Maine, and returned to college receiving a degree from the University of Southern Maine. She fulfilled a childhood dream when she started writing in the 1970s.

In Nazi-occupied Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen is called upon for a selfless act of bravery to help save her best friend from a terrible fate.

Winner of the Newbery Medal, newly reissued in the Essential Modern Classics range.

In Nazi-occupied Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen is called upon for a selfless act of bravery to help save her best friend from a terrible fate.

Winner of the Newbery Medal, newly reissued in the Essential Modern Classics range.

"They plan to arrest all the Danish Jews. They plan to take them away. And we have been told that they may come tonight."

It is 1943 and life in Copenhagen is becoming complicated for Annemarie. There are food shortages and curfews, and soldiers on every corner.

But it is even worse for her Jewish best friend, Ellen, as the Nazis continue their brutal campaign. With Ellen's life in danger, Annemarie must summon all her courage to help stage a daring escape.

Inspired by true events of the Second World War, this gripping novel brings the past vividly to life for today's readers.