Anna and the Swallow Man is a stunning literary and wholly original debut novel that tells a new WW2 story. Krakow1939 is no place to grow up. There are a million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. And Anna Lania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father and suddenly she's alone. Then she meets the Swallow Man. He is a mystery strange and tall. And like Anna's missing father he has a gift for languages: Polish Russian German Yiddish even Bird. When he summons a bright beautiful swallow down to his hand to stop her from crying Anna is entranced. Over the course of their travels together Anna and the Swallow Man will dodge bombs tame soldiers and even despite their better judgement make a friend. But in a world gone mad everything can prove dangerous . . .