The Winter Children

During the Second World War, the story of six children’s fight for survival, in the lonely frozen plains of the snowy Pyrenees

Winter, 1943. ‘The children! Where are the children?’ The question resonates in the silence of the Pyrenees. Smugglers were captured as they were trying to evacuate six children of resistance fighters into Spain. They barely had time to hide them, and they’re refusing to give them up. Furious, the SS execute them, but the children remain at large.The SS, paralysed by the cold, soon give up, and decide to leave them to the elements.

They blow up the only footbridge that links the refuge to the valley. Hidden in a cave, the children witnessed all of it. They are now prisoners of the mountain. The first snow has fallen, winter is only beginning. They must organise themselves, find food, water, fire, overcome rivalry, in short, behave like grown ups.

But they are only children. In a child’s universe, body and soul are much more fragile. How will they beat the cold, the hunger, the despair? Son or daughter of a communist, of a working class family or a middle class one, Jew or Christian, they must put aside their differences in order to survive.

An unforgettable story of mutual help, of friendship, and fight for survival, an incredibly powerful and moving novel.