Book Summary:
In 1960 Cold War Germany, Tom
and Melly McCarron, teenage Army brats, contend with adolescence on a
small American base near Bavaria, where their father, a decorated war
veteran, begins a three-year tour of duty. As tensions in Berlin rise
between the Allies and the Soviets, and threaten to bring about World
War III, the base teenagers forge bonds of loyalty and love stronger
than any of the adults understand.
Leaving New York on a night
flight to Germany, the quiet, thoughtful Tom, and feisty, emotional
Melly, are apprehensive about life in a foreign land. While they will
attend the American high school in Würzburg, brother and sister realize
they are the only stability each has had in their young lives. They also
leave behind the sole adult they came to trust, their Aunt Deeny, a
librarian who introduced them long ago to a way to cope with life's ups
and downs—reading and books.
Confronting the overwhelming
challenges of making new friends, adjusting to a foreign environment,
and enrolling in yet another school, they also must endure their abusive
father and moody Italian war bride mother. But they are not fully aware
of how their father's wartime experiences and sacrifices have left him
scarred. Relying on their inner strength and resilience, they navigate
the boundaries of military dependents—American teenagers with the same
needs, yearnings and heartbreak as any of their generation.
