RESIST

Knowing that her mother has been seized by the Nazis and will likely be shot at dawn, young Samira Zidane sets out on a seemingly hopeless rescue.

In this slim side story featuring characters from 2019’s Allies (and first published as a free extra), suspense runs high as the 12-year-old French Algerian girl races through the night in June 1944 to reach Bayeaux, France, where captured members of the Resistance are being held before their scheduled executions. Even if she arrives in time, what can she do? Repeatedly rising to the occasion as she slips past Nazi soldiers, guides an Allied unit on a mission behind enemy lines, and finally arrives just in time to see her mother and other captives being led into the forest to dig their own graves, Samira proves herself to be as resourceful as her indomitable mother. Readers will find her courage all the more admirable as Gratz makes the danger of being a civilian caught between occupiers and invaders on that fateful night (or any other time) breathlessly palpable. The author depicts a diverse cast; along the way Samira meets characters identified as both Black and white.

Tense, nonstop adventure in a historic setting.