Safe (Flight)
A sequel to the author’s first novel, Flight, this novel continues the quest of Jakob, a Jew, and Kizzy, who is Roma, to find refuge for both themselves and some of the famous Lipizzaner stallions of the Spanish Riding School during the final chaotic months of the Second World War.
Taken in by an Austrian countess, they are currently safe, but Kizzy resents the Countess’s attempts to turn her into a ‘lady’. Heinz, their adult friend and protector, is injured and cannot accompany them when another mission to save valuable horses arises. Worse, their informant, and a man they must trust, is no other than the one who betrayed them to the Nazis in the previous book. Betrayal after betrayal follow, and Kizzy and Jakob find themselves behind enemy lines and responsible for not only fifty horses but a band of lost children. Battling many dangers, from both the troops and the wild, mountainous terrain, they succeed in returning home to finally form what Kizzy calls ‘one, big, safe family’.
The included first chapter of book three in the series, however, indicates that safety may not last forever…
This is a simply-written, adventurous tale of children working alone to save themselves and the animals they prize and love. Descriptive prose is minimal, with instead a concentration on the emotional relations between the children and the empathy which they feel for the horses. This creates a warm atmosphere despite the story’s setting in the confusion and violence of war.
Dialogue and spoken monologue are used to propel the plot, and the subject of displaced children struggling to survive is an issue of as great a relevance today as ever.
This book would encourage useful discussion in schools, and would also be perfect for pony-mad girls of 8 – 12 years.
