An Eagle in the Snow

LoveReading4Kids Says

One of our Books of the Year 2015 - October 2015 Book of the Month   A ‘what if’ story based on a true life events, full of descriptions of heroism and selflessness: for any good writer this would make excellent material for a book, but in Michael Morpurgo’s hands, it’s pure gold.

Barney is leaving Coventry for Cornwall with his mum after their house has been destroyed in the Blitz. There’s no escape from Hitler however, and their train is attacked by a Messerschmitt forcing it to stop in a tunnel for safety. It’s pitch-black and Barney is scared of the dark. To distract him, the other passenger in the carriage tells him about his best friend, Billy Byron, famous in the First World War as the most decorated private soldier.  The story is an extraordinary one, we hear how Billy inadvertently changed the course of world history.

Morpurgo’s skill as a storyteller is unparalleled, and the structure of the story suits it perfectly: an adult voice – one who was there – describing remarkable events to a child. Another wonderful piece of drama and history from one of our finest writers.  ~ Andrea Reece

A note from Michael Morpurgo - "This book is dedicated to Private Henry Tandey VC. And this is why. Many of my stories have come from the lives of others, from truths, written or remembered, this one perhaps more than any other. Certainly had I not discovered, through Michael Foreman, the extraordinary story of the life and death of Walter Tull, the first black officer to serve in the British Army, I should never have written A Medal for Leroy.

Had I not met an old soldier from the First World War who had been to that war with horses, in the cavalry, I should not have written War Horse. Had I not come across, in a museum in Ypres, an official letter from the army to the mother of a soldier at the front in that same war, informing her that her son had been shot at dawn for cowardice, I should never have told my story of Private Peaceful.

It was a medal commemorating the sinking of the Lusitania by torpedo in 1915 with terrible loss of life, over a thousand souls, that compelled me to think of writing the story of a survivor, which I did in Listen to the Moon. I write fiction, but f iction with roots in history, in the people who made our history, who fought and often died in our wars.

They were real people who lived and had their being in another time, often living and suffering through great and terrible dangers, facing these with unimaginable courage. My challenge as a story maker has been to imagine that courage, to live out in my mind’s eye, so far as I can, how it must have been for them.

So when I was told by Dominic Crossley-Holland, history producer at the BBC, about the extraordinary life and times of Eagle Henry Tandey, the most decorated Private soldier of the First World War, I wanted to explore why he did what he did. This I have done, not by writing his biography. That had been done a lready.

Rather I wanted to make his life the basis of a fictional story that takes his story beyond his story, and tries to explore the nature of courage, and the dilemma we might face when we discover that doing the right thing turns out to be the worst thing we have ever done. Because the life of Henry Tandey is so closely associated with this story, I thought it right to include the history so far as it is known, of his actual life. This you will find in the postscript at the end of the book." 

A Piece of Passion from the publisher Ann-Janine Murtagh: "An Eagle in the Snow is quintessentially Morpurgo in capturing a small moment in history and weaving it into a breathtaking, dramatic and moving story that will have readers gripped till the last page. Following on from the bestselling success of Listen to the Moon it speaks of an author who is writing at the very peak of his powers. Michael Morpurgo remains our nation's favourite storyteller - and his stories now reach out to children across the globe.

LoveReading4Kids

About An Eagle in the Snow

Enemies meet. A life is spared. But is mercy always moral? An extraordinary middle-grade novel about a the young man who met a young Adolf Hitler and could have stopped WWII, from the author of War Horse. England, 1940. Barney's home has been destroyed by bombing, and he and his mother are traveling to the countryside with all their worldy belongings in one suitcase. When German planes attack, their train is forced to take shelter in a tunnel and there, in the darkness, a fellow passenger--a stranger--begins to tell them a story about two young soldiers who came face to face in the previous war. One British, one German. Both lived, but the British soldier was haunted by the encounter once he realized whose life he had spared: the young Adolf Hitler. The British soldier made a moral decision. Was it the right one? Readers can ponder that difficult question for themselves with Michael Morpurgo's latest middle-grade novel An Eagle in the Snow. Praise for An Eagle in the Snow: "What if a British soldier had a chance to shoot Hitler on a WWI battlefield but opted to let him go instead? . . . The stranger's descriptions of Billy's compassion and emotional turmoil are gripping in their own right, but Morpurgo will catch some readers off guard with supernaturally tinged twists he drops in the final chapters and epilogue. Originally published in the U.K. in 2015, this is an intricately crafted contemplation of the wrenching consequences of good intentions gone awry." --Publishers Weekly "World War II has ravaged England, including the homes on Mulberry Road. Ten-year-old Barney and his mother are headed out to the country to Aunty Mavis's home with all they have left in the world inside their luggage. A stranger boards the train and takes the seat across from them. After some small talk, the train begins to trudge forward, and they settle in for the ride. Suddenly, a German fighter plane surges from the sky and attacks the train. With the rat-a-tat of bullets pelting the train, the conductor races down the track toward a tunnel. As he slams on the brakes, everyone is plunged into total darkness. ... To pass the time, the stranger tells the story of two young soldiers from the previous war. The British soldier was the most decorated private of the First World War. The German soldier just might have been Hitler himself. This work of historical fiction, divided into four parts, will leave middle grade readers on the edge of their seats as they try to determine who the stranger is and how this random encounter during World War I could have altered history. Another gripping historical novel from the author of War Horse." --School Library Journal "Morpurgo's gentle WWII tale is loosely based on a real British soldier who may or may not have spared Adolf Hitler's life during WWI. ...The casual tone of the story the stranger tells is in compellingly sharp contrast to the powerful questions it raises about duty and honor. A couple of light twists at the end are not entirely unexpected. Morpurgo concludes the book with information about Henry Tandey, the real Billy Byron." --Booklist Praise for Listen to the Moon: "A poignant and life-affirming story from a master." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review "Morpurgo offers powerful descriptions of shipwreck, mass drowning, and devastation, as well as healing and growth." --Publishers Weekly "Superbly written. . . . This is one of Morpurgo's best works to date; a first purchase for middle grade and teen collections." --School Library Journal

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