Children's Books · Hardback

The Golden Star

Norwegian title: Den gylne stjerne

Lena Lindahl

The Golden Star is set in Narvik and details the situation of the Russian prisoners in the labour camps. A little-known part of our war history imparted with knowledge and intensity.

15-year-old Harald is sneered at and shunned because his parents are members of Nasjonal Samling. He becomes fascinated by NS ideology after attending meetings and is soon offered the opportunity to accompany NS higher-up Pedersen to the quarry where the Russian prisoners work so that he can learn how to treat so-called sub-humans. In the labour camp, Harald encounters a boy his own age, Viktor, who he soon realises is in mortal danger. Viktor has no one to help him, no one apart from Harald. But what can Harald do when he realises that Viktor needs to be smuggled out of the camp and over the border into Sweden? For a few fraught months towards the end of the war, Harald is put to the test as a friend, as a son and as an NS youth.

An action-packed story about escape, double agents, ideology and making the right choices.