Orphan, Monster, Spy
Matt Killeen
Usborne, £7.99
What is the book about?
It tells the story of Sarah, a 15-year-old recently orphaned Jewish girl in 1939, with skills in gymnastics and acting and a need for an escape. With a horrifying history twisted into her story of becoming a spy in an elite boarding school filled with the daughters of powerful Nazis.
Who is it aimed at?
Around 14 to 15 and anyone older as a lot of its themes can be intense and dark.
What was your favourite part?
One thing that really stands out is the idea of acting, and in this case, what it takes to play a role that she absolutely must get right.
What was your least favourite part?
As with books of this kind, much of the story is told at a very fast pace.
Which character would you most like to meet?
As a character, Sarah may have all the qualities of a brilliant spy, but also of a young person that is with great reason fiercely angry and getting through a situation that’s against her at every turn.
Why should someone buy this book?
Everything about the setting of World War Two and the way that’s handled, and the emotional and mental journey of Sarah herself.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here