Author: Gavin, Jamila
Reading age: from c 9 years
Published on 14 August 2025 by HarperCollins Publishers (Farshore) in the United Kingdom.
Paperback | 160 pages
197 x 129 x 12 | 116g
A stunning and heartbreaking new novel from Jamila Gavin, the bestselling and award-winning author of Coram Boy and The Wheel of Surya.
“Flawless” — Telegraph
“A must-read” — The Times
“Exceptional” — The Bookseller Children’s Book of the Month
Based on the true story of Indian WWI gunner and recipient of the Victoria Cross, Khudadad Khan. The story is told from four perspectives: Lotte, a Belgian farmgirl whose village is the flashpoint for a battle; Ernst, a German teenage cavalry soldier whose grandiose dreams of war lie in tatters; Khudadad Khan, the gunner fighting with the British Army; and the walnut tree that shelters them all.