In The Mouth Of The Wolf

"It is a story so remarkable that you couldn’t make it up. So there’s no reason for me to make up the story. It is a family story. It’s present and precious in my life. It also is the reason I think, at least in part, why I’ve become what I’ve become. I had two uncles—Peter, an actor killed age 21 just after the war began, and Francis, a pacifist who didn’t join up, but “went to war” when he’d heard that his young brother Peter had been killed. Francis spoke very good French, so he was selected to become a secret agent in France at the most extraordinary, dangerous, difficult and troubling times. He met some appalling enemies, but also fought and lived alongside people he loved dearly. Indeed, he went out at the end of his life to live amongst them, so close did he feel to them and to his comrades in the resistance. He had an extraordinary life. But it’s complex. He had a wife and family back home who knew nothing of his secret work. He’d go off for months at a time, but could never say where he’d gone. Naturally, a gulf grew up between them. While he was gone, he fell in love with a Polish resistance fighter called Christine. Christine, in remarkable circumstances, saved his life—literally saved him from the firing squad in the most extraordinary way. He had a lover, a wife, and, when the war ended, a dilemma. He chose to go back to his wife and children and became a head teacher. So I had the example of these two men, brothers, who took different paths, but whose paths were intimately connected. Sign up here for our newsletter featuring the best children’s and young adult books, as recommended by authors, teachers, librarians and, of course, kids. I just have always wanted to write that story. I had met Barroux previously in Edinburgh, and he invited me to lunch in Paris. I remember sitting in this restaurant telling him the story of my two uncles. His mouth just got wider and wider; his eyes got bigger and bigger. He said, ‘We must do it. We must do it.’ He took it so seriously. He went down to where my uncle lived, lay on his bed, looked out the window so that he could see the view where this old man was lying when he was thinking all the things that were in this book. He met my cousin (Uncle Francis’ daughter), talked about him, studied him. In a one-off way, this is the only history book I’m ever going to write. I happen to have told it in a way that a historian might not, but nothing that happens in my story In the Mouth of the Wolf is not true. One of the great difficulties of being a writer for young people is that it’s so easy for it to be thought of as a children’s book. It’s a book about children growing up for sure. It’s about my two uncles growing up. But it’s also about what happens after. It’s extraordinarily adult in terms of it’s context. “That’s one of the best things about stories: the good stories, if told well, can hold our attention across generations” One of the fascinating things about the play War Horse is how an audience of old people, middle-aged people, young people, and children can all become completely enthralled and lost in a story about a horse. It’s the manner of the telling that counts, and the subject behind it, of course. But the National Theatre version tells that story so well that it holds the attention across the generations. That’s one of the best things about stories: the good stories, if told well, can hold our attention across generations."