Through Gabi, Natt meets Igor, 16, whose father is an NKVD captain, but who also proves helpful to Natt, nevertheless. And Gabi Mindru, 11, whose mother takes Natt in when Irena leaves to find her parents, and who nurses him back to health when he gets deathly ill. And there is Olga and Peter, siblings who live in Novosibirsk and whose father has an important and useful-for-Natt job. Natt lives with her for a while when his mother is arrested for 'stealing potatoes' after being set up by an official who needed to meet her arrest quota.

There is Irena, 18, who voluntarily travels to Siberia in the same cattle cart as Natt and the others, in order to try and find information about her exiled parents. But Natt also makes friends wherever he goes, who can often help in get wants he wants. And each time their circumstances change, Natt thinks things can't get any worse, and yet they do. There is never enough to eat, clothing is old, dirty, patched, and never warm enough. Life in Siberia allows for a certain amount of movement, simply because escape is pretty much out of the question. His mother was told she could see his father through a window at a certain time, but when she and Natt walked by, Natt turned his head away from the window, an act he is sure he will never forgive himself for and is convinced his father won't either. Natt is still haunted by the terrible thing he did after his father was arrested. There, they are taken to an outdoor schoolyard where they will be staying. The journey is nothing short of a lice-infested 'Train of Horrors, finally ending in Novosibirsk, in southern Siberia. Now, in the summer of 1941, Natt and his mother, along with 26 other people, have been traveling in a cattle car for more than six weeks after being arrested and are on their way to Siberia.

You may remember that Natt's father was arrested and sent to a gulag in Siberia after their Eastern European home came under Soviet occupation, and he was considered an enemy of the Soviet state. Based on true events, this sequel to A Boy is Not a Bird continues the story of Natt Silver.

Held by Edeet Ravel