From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a
thrilling World War II story of espionage and intrigue, as one girl
races to save her father and aid the French resistance.
Six hundred and fifty-seven days ago, Meg Kenyon's father left their
home in France to fight for the Allies in World War II, and that was the
last time Meg saw him. Recently, she heard he was being held prisoner by
the Nazis, a terrible sentence from which Meg fears he'll never return.
All she has left of him are the codes he placed in a jar for her to
decipher, an affectionate game the two of them shared. But the codes are
running low, and soon there'll be nothing left of Papa for Meg to hold
on to at all.
Suddenly, an impossible chance to save her father falls into Meg's lap.
After following a trail of blood in the snow, Meggie finds an injured
British spy hiding in her grandmother's barn. Captain Stewart tells her
that a family of German refugees must be guided across Nazi-occupied
France to neutral Spain, whereupon one of them has promised to free
Meg's father. Captain Stewart was meant to take that family on their
journey, but too injured to complete the task himself, he offers it to
Meg, along with a final code from Papa to help complete the mission --
perhaps the most important, and most difficult, riddle she's received
yet.
As the Nazis flood Meg's village in fierce pursuit, she accepts the duty
and begins the trek across France. Leading strangers through treacherous
territory, Meg faces danger and uncertainty at every turn, all the while
struggling to crack her father's code. The message, as she unravels it,
reveals secrets costly enough to risk the mission and even her own life.
Can Meg solve the puzzle, rescue the family, and save her father?