This adventure story is set in England near the beginning of the second world war. For safety's sake our young hero, Harry Ryder, is sent out of town to the countryside as an evacuee. As the war rages on, Harry's own battles are just getting going as he navigates his new surroundings and the people he encounters (I won't spoil it for you, but some of the locals are mean). It's a great book, and not just for boys. It delivers a lot of a good yarn with sneaky doses of history and social education - what else could you ask for?