Helen Watts – författare

On a hot summer afternoon in 1944, SS troops wiped out an entire French village. 644 men, women and children died that day. Just one child survived. This book tells the story of what happened in Oradour, and imagines what drove both the SS officer who ordered the massacre, and the seven-year-old boy who escaped it. Powerful, moving and almost unbearably tense, this book weaves the truth about what happened to the people in Oradour into a powerful fictional story centred on two characters: the plucky, inspirational seven-year-old Alfred Fournier, refugee and resident of Oradour, and the hot-headed, power-hungry SS commander who shattered his world and changed his life for ever, Major Gustav Dietrich. As their two worlds collide, we gain a fascinating insight into the extremes and contradictions of human behaviour and emotion. With a twist in the tale, this is a story which leaves the reader surprised, inspired and profoundly moved.

On a hot summer afternoon in 1944, SS troops wiped out an entire French village. 644 men, women and children died that day. Just one child survived. This book tells the story of what happened in Oradour, and imagines what drove both the SS officer who ordered the massacre, and the seven-year-old boy who escaped it. Powerful, moving and almost unbearably tense, this book weaves the truth about what happened to the people in Oradour into a powerful fictional story centred on two characters: the plucky, inspirational seven-year-old Alfred Fournier, refugee and resident of Oradour, and the hot-headed, power-hungry SS commander who shattered his world and changed his life for ever, Major Gustav Dietrich. As their two worlds collide, we gain a fascinating insight into the extremes and contradictions of human behaviour and emotion. With a twist in the tale, this is a story which leaves the reader surprised, inspired and profoundly moved.

Kelly, a Traveller girl, is isolated and unhappy at her new school. Until the hot summer day when she meets Ben. Ben offers to help Kelly with her history project. It''s just schoolwork - except that the investigation quickly becomes compelling. Strange puzzles are revealed. A dark secret of the local quarry comes to life. Soon the mystery of the past is spilling into the present - and into Kelly''s own life. Kelly must bring the long-buried truth to light. And she will leave no stone unturned...A tense, moving mystery with brilliant historical detail of Victorian life, by the author of the Carnegie-nominated One Day In Oradour.

Kelly, a Traveller girl, is isolated and unhappy at her new school. Until the hot summer day when she meets Ben. Ben offers to help Kelly with her history project. It''s just schoolwork - except that the investigation quickly becomes compelling. Strange puzzles are revealed. A dark secret of the local quarry comes to life. Soon the mystery of the past is spilling into the present - and into Kelly''s own life. Kelly must bring the long-buried truth to light. And she will leave no stone unturned...A tense, moving mystery with brilliant historical detail of Victorian life, by the author of the Carnegie-nominated One Day In Oradour.

As the Great War raged, and in its aftermath, people created hundreds of legends and stories round it, to speak of the sadness, the heroism, the deaths. Author Helen Watts and storyteller Taffy Thomas bring together this compelling, moving collection of ghost stories and mysteries from both sides of the conflict, from the haunted U-boat to the ghost of the trenches.

As the Great War raged, and in its aftermath, people created hundreds of legends and stories round it, to speak of the sadness, the heroism, the deaths. Author Helen Watts and storyteller Taffy Thomas bring together this compelling, moving collection of ghost stories and mysteries from both sides of the conflict, from the haunted U-boat to the ghost of the trenches.