Vienna, 1938. Five-year-old Samuel Adler boards the last Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria, escaping to England with just a change of clothes and his beloved violin. Eight decades later, Anita Diaz and her mother flee El Salvador for refuge in the United States, where the new family separation policy lands seven-year-old Anita alone at a camp in Nogales.

Intertwining past and present, this is an unforgettable story of the search for family and home, the extraordinary sacrifices made by parents, and the courage of children to never stop dreaming.

‘A testament to love, survival and sacrifice’ HARPER’S BAZAAR 

‘Allende blends fact and fiction, love and war . . . As you read her escapist tale you develop a richer understanding of the world you inhabit’ BRITISH VOGUE

‘What a joy it must be to come upon Allende for the first time’ COLUM MCCANN