Until March 1944, the lives of eleven-year-olds David and Peter in Budapest were barely affected by World War II. But then the spring decrees come, and week by week they restrict the movements of David’s Jewish family until they are forced to squeeze into a yellow-star house. Besides its many drawbacks, there is one advantage: David gets to meet Count Dobay’s outspoken daughter with windswept hair, Vilma.

While David’s family is finding it increasingly difficult to cope, Peter’s seem to be able to live their lives undisturbed. But the regulations are testing them too: do they still dare to associate with their friends? And if so, for how long? Because summer is followed by autumn, the bombing intensifies, then the Arrow Cross suddenly takes over, ushering in the darkest weeks of the war.

Will David and Peter’s friendship survive, and will they themselves survive the year 1944?

Balázs Zágoni is a HUBBY (Hungarian IBBY) – winner of Writer of the Year for Young Audiences and Éva Janikovszky Award-winning author. After years of research and using real stories, he has written this gripping and heartbreaking novel.

Published on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Hungarian Holocaust.