I am David

‘You must get away tonight,’ the man had told him. David escapes from the concentration camp where he has spent his entire life and flees across Europe. He is utterly alone – who can he trust? What will await him? And all the while, how can he be sure that they won’t catch up with him … This is the remarkable story of David’s introduction to the world: sea, mountains and flowers, the colours of Italy, the taste of fruit, people laughing and smiling, all are new to David.  David learns that his polite manner, his haunted eyes and his thin features are strange to other people. He must learn to fend for himself in this strange new world. An incredible story of survival against all odds and self discovery, for readers of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Book Thief.

Anne Holm was born in Denmark in 1922, named Else Annelise Jørgensen. After finishing school, she trained as a journalist and spent much of her life travelling around Europe, also spending some years in America. She spoke German, Italian, French and English, was politically motivated and wrote about the impact of Cold War in much of her journalism. I Am David, simply called David in the original Danish, was first published in Britain in 1965. It has won many awards, including The Prize for the Best Scandinavian Children’s Book in 1963. It has never been out of print since first publication and is considered a classic all over Europe.