“Deeply moving” - Booktrust
“A gripping story of love, courage and triumph
over evil” - The Bookseller
“Can, and should, be read by an audience of
any age.” - Jewish News
WINNER: THE UK LITERACY ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARDS 2024:
INFORMATION BOOK
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKSELLER CHILDREN'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE
YEAR 2024
A story of survival, of love between mother and son and
of enduring hope in the face of unspeakable hardship. An important
read.
The Boy Who Didn't Want to Die describes an extraordinary
journey, made by Peter, a boy of five, through war-torn Europe
in 1944 and 1945.
Peter and his parents set out from a small Hungarian town, travelling
through Austria and then Germany together.
Along the way, unforgettable images of adventure flash one after
another: sleeping in a tent and then under the sky, discovering
a disused brick factory, catching butterflies in the meadows -
and as Peter realises that this adventure is really a nightmare -
watching bombs falling from the blue sky outside Vienna, learning
maths from his mother in Belsen.
All this is drawn against a background of terror, starvation,
infection and, inevitably, death, before Peter and his mother can
return home.
Author Professor Peter Lantos is a Fellow of the Academy
of Medical Sciences and in his previous life was an internationally
renowned clinical neuroscientist. His memoir, Parallel
Lines (Arcadia Books, 2006) was translated into Hungarian,
German and Italian. Closed Horizon (Arcadia, 2012) was his
first novel.
Peter was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2020 for
'services to Holocaust education and awareness'
He is one of the last of the generation of survivors
and this - his first book for children - will serve as a testimony
to his experience.
Peter lives in London.
MORE REVIEWS OF THE BOY WHO DIDN'T WANT TO DIE
"the book [is] absolutely compelling, partly because it is
a true story of extraordinary resilience and survival in unimaginable
circumstances, but also because Lantos' stark recollections
make very powerful reading." Gaby Wine, The Jewish
Chronicle
