in the summer of 1928, twelve-year-old Jack Graham and his brother Francis befriend the quiet German, Otto Finkel and together with the enigmatic Jean-Luc and virtuous Marco, they are involved in a serious case of misadventure that leaves a man dead and one of the boys disfigured. The memories for most of them fade with time but for Otto, the mental scarring matches the physical scarring. Is this the reason why, years later, in the turmoil of war, he finds himself as an officer in the Waffen SS? Largely unbeknown to them, the paths of the schoolboys, now young men, impinge on Otto’s life as each chooses to serve their respective countries in different ways. Following their wartime exploits, from the beaches of Dunkirk to the purge of the Roman ghetto, from the horrors of Drancy Deportation Camp to the Nazi ratlines of post-war Europe. This is a powerful story of war, grief, love and regret.