World history gifts

Dominion by Tom Holland is an enlightening exploration of the profound influence of Christianity on the Western world. With meticulous research and engaging narratives, Tom Holland journeys through history to reveal how Christianity has shaped our thoughts, values, and institutions, often in ways we have long forgotten. At its core, Dominion tells the story of how an obscure cult following...

Fully updated edition of the biggest-selling popular science book of the 21st century explaining the Earth, the universe, everything in-between. The 21st century's bestselling popular science book has now been fully revised and updated in Bill Bryson's inimitable style to reflect the many advances in science since this book was first published in 2003. This journey through time and space...

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is an extraordinary exploration of humanity's history from the dawn of our species to the present day. Harari delves into our evolution, offering insights into the cognitive revolutions that allowed Homo sapiens to rise above other animal species. Traversing through various stages of human development, he examines the Agricultural Revolution, the unification of humankind through...

The International Bestseller A New York Times Best Book of the 21st Century Soon to be an FX TV series streaming on DISNEY+ 'Unquestionably one of the greatest literary achievements of the 21st century' — Nick Hornby From the author of Empire of Pain – a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions....

The debut book from the YouTube sensation and all-round cartographical nerds, The Map Men! In their long-awaited debut, YouTube’s Map Men bring their highly infectious enthusiasm for everything map-related to the printed page for the very first time, in a brilliantly entertaining and eye-catching tome. Packed with humour and fascinating facts, This Way Up takes a deep dive into the...

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is a monumental work that provides a harrowing account of the Soviet Union's labour camp system. Set against a vast canvas of camps, prisons, transit centres, and secret police, the narrative unfolds the grim realities of informers, spies, and interrogators while simultaneously celebrating instances of everyday heroism. This literary masterpiece, based on the testimony...

The acclaimed new translation of Tolstoy's masterpiece, for the first time in Black Classics after the successful hardback and Red Classics editions—10,000+ hardbacks and, by the time of Black Classics, 20,000+ of Red Classics sold. At a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon's...

Spanning centuries and continents, The Silk Roads by Professor Peter Frankopan offers a compelling and comprehensive retelling of history through the lens of the ancient trade routes that linked the East and the West. This fascinating book takes readers on an epic journey across time and space, exploring the key role that these pathways played in shaping the world's continents,...

From renowned historian and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari comes the story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world. For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological...

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 'The beauty of The Wager unfurls like a great sail... one of the finest nonfiction books I've ever read' Guardian 'The greatest sea story ever told' Spectator 'I cannot think of anyone who would not love this book... It is an extraordinary true story, beautifully...

Goliath’s Curse by Luke Kemp offers a radical retelling of human history through the lens of collapse, delving into what this means for our uncertain future. This narrative spans from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond. It's grounded in the latest research and a comprehensive database of more than 440...

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown is an eye-opening chronicle of the tragic history of the American West from 1860 to 1890, a period marked by broken promises, disillusionment, war, and massacre. Beginning with the forced relocation known as the Long Walk of the Navajos, and culminating in the devastating massacre of the Sioux at Wounded Knee,...

How did an elderly cleric overthrow the Shah of Iran and change the world?Why did Bin Laden attack the USA - and why did the USA destroy Saddam?How did Britain and France carve up the Middle East - and why did the Kurds never get their own state? THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE MAKING OF TODAY'S MIDDLE EAST: A SPELLBINDING...

Sea People by Christina Thompson is a riveting historical exploration that delves into the mysterious origins and epic journeys of the Polynesians—one of the world's most enigmatic and adventurous seafaring peoples. The narrative unfolds over a thousand years ago, focussing on how these master navigators discovered and colonised the far-flung islands within a vast triangle from Hawaii to New Zealand...

The Anarchy by William Dalrymple meticulously charts the rise of the East India Company from a modest enterprise to a formidable colonial force. Set against the backdrop of a crumbling Mughal Empire and a burgeoning British dominance, the book provides a captivating narrative of power, ambition, and historical upheaval. In August 1765, a pivotal moment in history occurred as the...

Riveting and original ... a work enriched by solid scholarship, vivid personal experience, and acute appreciation of the concerns and aspirations of the contending parties in this deeply unequal conflict - Noam Chomsky The twentieth century for Palestine and the Palestinians has been a century of denial: denial of statehood, denial of nationhood and denial of history. The Hundred Years'...

NOW WITH A FUN PUB QUIZ 'An idiosyncratic ride through history' Independent 'Holland and Sandbrook have pretty much reinvented popular history for the modern age' The Times The nation’s favourite historians, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, take on the most curious moments in history, answering the questions we didn’t even think to ask... - What was the most disastrous party...

THE LONG-AWAITED SEQUEL TO WILD SWANS, THE MULTI-MILLION COPY INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING SENSATION Jung Chang’s Wild Swans was a book that defined a generation, an epic personal history of Jung, her mother and grandmother – ‘three daughters of China’. The book opens with her grandmother’s birth – and foot binding – in 1909, when China was under the last emperor, through...

The story of a hotel. The story of a nation. When the Inter-Continental Kabul opened in 1969, Afghanistan's first luxury hotel symbolised a dream of a modernising country connected to the world. More than fifty years on, the Inter-Continental is still standing. It has endured Soviet occupation, multiple coups, a grievous civil war, a US invasion and the rise, fall...

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is among the most enduring documents of the 20th century. Anne Frank kept a diary from 12 June 1942 to 1 August 1944. Initially, she wrote it strictly for herself. Then, one day in 1944, Gerrit Bolkestein, a member of the Dutch government in exile, announced in a radio broadcast from...

The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans is a masterful exploration into the origins and rise of Nazi Germany, vividly recounting the transformation of a modern and culturally rich nation into the epicentre of one of history’s darkest periods. This meticulously researched work takes readers on a journey through the tumultuous years that saw Germany descend from...

From the number one New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility, Amor Towles, comes a beautifully crafted and transporting novel, A Gentleman in Moscow. Set in the backdrop of tumultuous 20th-century Russia, it follows the life of Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, who finds himself deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal and sentenced to house arrest in...

In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius - the Roman emperor renowned for his intellect and stoic philosophy - shares his profound inner thoughts, reflections, and wisdom. This collection of personal writings provides readers with a rare glimpse into the mind of a ruler whose musings on life, duty, and virtue were not originally intended for public consumption. Instead, these writings served as...

The instant Sunday Times bestseller A revolutionary new history of the diffusion of Indian ideas, from the award-winning, bestselling author and co-host of the chart-topping Empire podcast. ‘Richly woven, highly readable ... Written with passion and verve’ Spectator ‘Dazzling ... Not just a historical study but also a love letter’ Guardian ‘An outstanding new account ... The most compelling retelling...

Excellent...entrancing and disturbing. The New York Times One of the world's best investigative journalists tells the true story of Chinese twins forcibly separated as babies through adoption trafficking, raised on opposite sides of the globe and only reunited as teens. In 2000, a Chinese woman gave birth to twins in a bamboo grove, trying to avoid detection by the government...

The Third Reich in Power, 1933 - 1939 by Richard J. Evans details the harrowing transformation of Germany under Nazi rule, following Adolf Hitler's ascension to power in 1933 through to the precipice of World War II in 1939. This compelling narrative unveils the chilling mechanisms through which the Nazis subverted a sophisticated society into a dictatorship entrenched in war...

'A sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian' – PETER FRANKOPAN 'This book is a revelation … both original and important' – MISHAL HUSAIN A history of modern South Asia told through five partitions that reshaped it. As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and...

Beginning at a love hotel by Japan's Inland Sea and ending by a river in Tasmania, Question 7 is about the choices we make about love and the chain reaction that follows. By way of H. G. Wells and Rebecca West's affair through 1930s nuclear physics to Flanagan's father working as a slave labourer near Hiroshima when the atom bomb...

Genghis Khan by Jack Weatherford is a masterful work that redefines our understanding of one of history's most enigmatic figures. Far from the merciless conqueror of lore, Weatherford paints a nuanced portrait of Genghis Khan, revealing a leader of strikingly progressive ideals for his time. Drawing from extensive historical research, Weatherford traces Khan's meteoric rise from obscure origins to becoming...

The beautiful novel of female friendship and family secrets on a small Korean island, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends that come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea...

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond unveils the staggering epic of human societies across continents and millennia. The book provides a compelling narrative that explores the forces shaping the complex tapestry of global history without falling into the trap of Eurocentrism. Diamond embarks on a journey to answer a simple yet profound puzzle: Why did Eurasian societies wield guns,...

'Vivid storytellers.' THE TIMES 'As well as highly entertaining read, How To Kill A Witch is a tour de force of research, understanding and compassion.' PROFESSOR SUE BLACK, author of All That Remains 'Fascinating, angering' THE MAIL ON SUNDAY 'A work of real historical investigation and a fierce warning for our times.' MALCOLM GASKILL, author of The Ruin Of All...

Gwangju, South Korea, 1980. In the wake of a viciously suppressed student uprising, a boy searches for his friend's corpse, a consciousness searches for its abandoned body, and a brutalised country searches for a voice. In a sequence of interconnected chapters, the victims and the bereaved encounter censorship, denial, forgiveness, and the echoing agony of the original trauma. Human Acts...

In December 1937, the Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking, igniting an orgy of violence and atrocities that would become one of the most horrific episodes of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were systematically raped, tortured, and murdered. This staggering death toll exceeds that of the atomic blasts of...

Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian is the enthralling first instalment in the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series, celebrated as one of the finest collections of historical novels ever penned. The story sets sail in the early 19th century during the Napoleonic Wars and introduces the reader to Captain Jack Aubrey RN and Dr Stephen Maturin, a ship’s surgeon with a covert...

From New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides comes an epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration – the fateful final journey of Captain James Cook. In July 1776, Captain James Cook began his third voyage in HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, in Hawaii, Cook was killed – stabbed by the indigenous population. What brought...

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson offers an immersive, detailed account of Winston Churchill’s first year as prime minister, during Britain’s “darkest hour.” As Hitler’s forces advance across Europe, Churchill must rally a beleaguered nation facing the imminent threat of invasion. The narrative weaves together stories of the Churchill family, his closest advisers, and ordinary citizens, capturing the...

On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder is a compelling and insightful guidebook on how to resist and challenge the forces of authoritarianism and preserve democratic values. Bringing together lessons from history, Snyder provides concrete strategies and principles that individuals can employ to protect freedom and stave off the threat of tyranny. This essential read is not only a reflection on the...

Visiting his dad’s hometown in Japan four months after his father’s death would be hard enough for Ben. But one morning, the pain turns to fear: first, a massive earthquake rocks the quiet coastal village, nearly toppling his uncle’s house. Then the ocean waters rise, and Ben and his family are swept away—and pulled apart—by a devastating tsunami. Can he...

Now in one volume, both parts of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi's brilliant memoir-in-comic-strips about growing up in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution. The brilliant graphic memoir of growing up in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution. Marjane Satrapi lived through the Iranian Revolution as a little girl. This is her classic memoir-in-comic-strips, the story of a child entangled...

The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow is a monumental and revolutionary exploration of human history that challenges long-held beliefs about the origin of civilisation. This groundbreaking work embarks on a breathtaking journey through the earliest societies, revealing a complex tapestry of human interaction devoid of the simplistic interpretations of either 'primitive and childlike' or 'brutish and...

Thoroughly updated and revised for 2024, Jerusalem: The Biography is the history of the Middle East through the lens of the Holy City and the Holy Land, from King David to the wars and chaos of today. The history of Jerusalem is the story of the world: Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of...

Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail by renowned investor Ray Dalio presents a compelling analysis of economic and political cycles spanning the past 500 years. Dalio meticulously examines the turbulent periods in history to shed light on why we are experiencing drastic changes today and how these events mirror past global shifts. Dalio...

Every time I think Kristin Harmel's books can't get any better, they do Sally Hepworth Romantic, sweeping, and deeply emotional—this is Kristin Harmel at her absolute best Christina Lauren A transportive and much-needed trip to Paris . . . I stayed up all night finishing this one Jo Piazza Julia Glover has brought her twenty-three-year-old daughter, Piper, to Paris for...

The Diary of Anne Frank (Abridged for Young Readers) is an extraordinary account of a young Jewish girl’s experiences during World War II, while she and her family are hiding from the Nazis. This timeless piece of literature captures the fears, hopes, and spirit of Anne Frank as she documents her daily life, thoughts, and feelings while confined to a...

The incredible story of the Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist and the woman he loved. The Tattooist of Auschwitz tells the harrowing yet poignant tale of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, who finds himself on the first transport to Auschwitz in 1942. Distinctly recognised for his charm and well-groomed appearance, Lale is assigned the role of "Tatowierer" — the tattooist — designated with...

Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India by Shashi Tharoor is a powerful and incisive examination of the impact of British colonialism on India. Spanning the arrival of the East India Company in the early 18th century to the end of the British Raj in 1947, Tharoor meticulously details how Britain's wealth and rise to global prominence were built...

HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. A Tale of Two Cities begins with the famous line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Set in Paris and London against the backdrop of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities tells the story of Lucie Manette and her father Alexandre,...

On the remote north-western Isle of Lewis stands one of the most spectacular megalithic monuments in the world, a stone circle forming part of a huge Celtic Cross, built over four thousand years ago. Behold Callanish! This small book, packed with fine old engravings, is a great new introduction to the Stonehenge of the Hebrides by one of the leading...

Travel back to a vanished world with the celebrated children's history series. The Aztec Empire had been blessed by the gods. Its pyramid temples were warmed by the sun, its fields were thick with corn, its bustling marketplaces were full of feathers, pottery and jewellery. But the Emperor Montezuma was troubled by terrifying omens. And when Spanish sailors landed on...

Meet the pioneering female anthropologists who coped with illness, shipwreck, loneliness and misogyny to document the remarkable lives of people in distant parts of the world where 'ladies' were not meant to travel. The extraordinary women featured in Intrepid Women defied early twentieth-century conventions to carry out groundbreaking field research in distant parts of the world where 'ladies' were not...

'Fascinating' TOM HOLLAND | 'A delight from start to finish' MIRANDA SAWYER 'A novel and fascinating perspective on world history' BILL BRYSON 'By turns surprising, funny, bleak, ridiculous, or all four of those at once' GIDEON DEFOE 'Elledge writes with wry humour and infectious enthusiasm' OBSERVER People have been drawing lines on maps for as long as there have been...

The first volume of the graphic adaptation of Yuval Noah Harari's global phenomenon and smash Sunday Times #1 bestseller, with gorgeous full-colour illustrations and a beautiful package - the perfect gift for the curious beings in your life. One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one - homo...

The Devil’s Chessboard by David Talbot is a riveting exposé that unveils a chilling narrative of power, deception, and intrigue at the highest levels of the United States government. Delving into the intricately woven saga of America’s ascent to international supremacy, Talbot turns the spotlight on Allen Welsh Dulles, the enigmatic and influential figure who served as the CIA’s longest-tenured...

Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham is the definitive, dramatic untold story of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, based on original reporting and new archival research. This masterful non-fiction thriller brings the 1986 disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it first-hand, offering a gripping narrative that reads with all the immediacy of...

The internationally bestselling and prize-winning history of German life in the fallout of the Third Reich, filled with eye-opening, shocking, and vitally human stories of ruin, repression, and revival. The Times Top 10 Bestseller Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Shortlisted for the British Academy Book Prize Shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize A Book of the Year...

This indispensable translation is as close to the original as it is possible to get while at the same time being a clear and fluid rendering of the Russian. If you've never read it, now is the moment. This translation will show that you don't read War and Peace, you live it - The Times Tolstoy's enthralling epic depicts Russia's...

Travel back to a world at war with the thrilling children's history series. Everything was ready. The air was thick with excitement. This was D-Day . . . Prepare to enter the most dramatic conflict the world has ever seen, as historian Dominic Sandbrook takes us on a spine-tingling, heart-stopping adventure. We witness the Second World War first-hand through the...

The sky above war-torn Europe was ablaze during the third week of February 1944, as the combined Allied air forces launched an unprecedented round-the-clock bomber offensive against Germany. Big Week by bestselling author James Holland delves into this pivotal moment in World War II history with unmatched depth and intensity. This battle sought to cripple the main factories and production...

An unforgettable coming-of-age story, Free by Lea Ypi explores the profound meanings of freedom—personal, collective, and political—through the eyes of a young girl growing up in one of the most isolated countries on earth. Albania, where communist ideals replaced religion, stood as the last Stalinist stronghold in Europe, virtually impossible to visit or leave. It was a land of scarcity...

Vietnam by Max Hastings is an unparalleled exploration of the Vietnam War, providing a gripping and comprehensive account of this turbulent period. Drawing on three years of meticulous research and interviews with individuals from all sides of the conflict, Hastings offers an epic narrative that vividly brings to life the ground-breaking events and personal experiences of those who lived through...

Few gave tiny Singapore much chance of survival when it was granted independence in 1965. How is it, then, that today the former British colonial trading post is a thriving Asian metropolis with not only the world's number one airline, best airport, and busiest port of trade, but also the world's fourth-highest per capita real income? The story of that...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER. Discover the game-changing theory of the cycles of history and what past generations can teach us about living through times of upheaval—with deep insights into the roles that Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials have to play—now with a new preface by Neil Howe. "One of the best efforts to give us an integrated vision of where we are...

"The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one." - Adolf Hitler The officially sanctioned English language edition of Mein Kampf was translated and introduced by James Murphy. The edition using his translation was first published as a two-volume set in the UK in 1939 and also in 22...

A brilliant memoir of adolescence in New Zealand and of the migration of European manuscripts to the far side of the world. Christopher de Hamel is one of the world's best-known scholars and writers on illuminated manuscripts. He was mostly brought up in the south of New Zealand, where his family moved when he was four. This book magically evokes...

Piece together the world of Shakespeare in this art jigsaw puzzle depicting the London of his day. Spot a huge cast of contemporary extras as A Midsummer Night’s Dream is rehearsed at the Globe and fellow actors wander the streets, along with local characters who may well have provided the Bard with inspiration. From lovers ascending ladders and bears being...

A day that forever changed the nation... The only thing Lucas loves more than football is his uncle Benny, his dad’s best friend at the firehouse where they both work. Benny taught Lucas everything about football. So when Lucas’s parents decide the sport is too dangerous and he needs to quit, Lucas has to talk to his biggest fan. The...

The West and Islam—the sword and the scimitar—have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Byzantine emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad's order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom. Sword and Scimitar chronicles the significant battles that arose from this ages-old Islamic jihad, beginning with the first major Islamic attack on...

A new translation and abridgement of one of the four classical Chinese novels, this is the epic story of the fall of the Han dynasty and rise of the Three Kingdoms. Part historical and part legendary, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms dramatizes the lives of feudal lords and their retainers, recounting their personal and military battles, intrigues, and struggles...

The new epic novel from the bestselling author of Sarum, Russka, London, and The Forest Edward Rutherfurd's great Irish epic reveals the story of the people of Ireland through the focal point of the island's capital city. The epic begins in pre-Christian Ireland during the reign of the fierce and powerful High Kings at Tara, with the tale of two...

The Vintage Classics Russians Series offers sumptuous editions of the greatest books to come out of Russia during the most tumultuous period in its history. Life and Fate is the great Russian 20th-century novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Stalingrad. Life and Fate is an epic tale of a country told through the fate of a single family,...

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a sweeping, evocative novel set in Nigeria during the harrowing years of the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s. A profoundly moving narrative that captures the complex fabric of Nigeria's society, the book intertwines the lives of three unforgettable characters amid the tumult of a fierce civil war where...

Barry's family tries to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina hits their home in New Orleans. But when his little sister gets terribly sick, they're forced to stay home and wait out the storm. At first, Katrina doesn't seem to be as bad as predicted. But overnight the levees break and Barry's world is literally torn apart. He's swept off by the...

The astounding history that masterfully and decisively rewrites the causes of the First World War as we know them. The moments that it took Gavrilo Princip to step forward to the stalled car and shoot dead Franz Ferdinand and his wife were perhaps the most fateful of the modern era. An act of terrorism of staggering efficiency, it fulfilled its...

The Vintage Classics Russians Series - sumptuous editions of the greatest books to come out of Russia during the most tumultuous period in its history. If you've never read it, now is the moment. This translation will show that you don't read War and Peace, you live it - The Times Tolstoy's enthralling epic depicts Russia's war with Napoleon and...

In 1965, Indonesia witnessed one of the most horrendous events of the twentieth century: the mass killing of approximately one million innocent civilians. This massacre, covertly backed by the U.S. government and conducted by the Indonesian military, represented a crucial turning point in global geopolitics. The systematic extermination targeted the thriving Indonesian Communist Party, then the largest in the world...

How could a barely literate peasant from Siberia determine the fate of the world? Undoubtedly, the so-called 'mad monk' Rasputin bewitched Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. Yet their strange and scandalous relationship conceals a riddle, one that casts an intriguing light on the controversial 'great man' theory of history. Rasputin was a devoted monarchist, not a revolutionary. He...

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A Waterstones and TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR A SPECTATOR and History Today BOOK OF THE YEAR A revolutionary new history of the diffusion of Indian ideas, from the award-winning, bestselling author and co-host of the chart-topping Empire podcast ‘Richly woven, highly readable ... Written with passion and verve’ Spectator ‘Dazzling ... Not just...

The acclaimed author of Free returns with an imaginative investigation into dignity and historical injustice through the story of a family. When Lea Ypi discovers a photo of her grandmother, Leman, honeymooning in the Alps in 1941 posted by a stranger on social media, she is faced with unsettling questions. Growing up, she was told records of her grandmother's youth...

An unforgettable war-time adventure story. Although the silver sword was only a paper knife, it became the symbol of hope and courage which kept the Balicki children and their orphan friend Jan alive through the four years of occupation when they had to fend for themselves. And afterwards, it inspired them to keep going on the exhausting and dangerous journey...