Slotting in beside THE MACHINE GUNNERS and WAR HORSE, A CAKE FOR THE GESTAPO tells the story of a fictional gang of kids in Jersey during the German Occupation in WW2, weaving in very real islanders own stories of the Occupation at its core A history that has never before been told in childrens literature June 1940. Jersey. Joe makes light of his fathers unpredictable anger, and Spinner tries to ignore the school bully, Percy, while dealing with her own mounting fears. As for Ginger, her cousin, hes nervous of the biggest bully of all, Hitler, while her neighbour, farmers son Clem, is apparently just keeping his head down. But on the sly, Clem is learning to box, has hidden a gun and hes going to deal with Percy and possibly the Germans all by himself. All the same, none of them believes the Germans will actually invade. Then the island is bombed, Joe is injured and outrage turns to terror as the Germans arrive and their grip on the peaceful island tightens. Initially, the adults avoid direct confrontation, while the gang is determined to go further, aiming to destroy German morale and trip them up in their every move. At first, they simply play tricks on the soldiers, but as the situation worsens, their defiance escalates, leading them all into terrible, mortal danger. As the Occupation wears on, and deprivation turns to starvation, a distinct plan emerges for the kids - the successful elimination from the island of a Gestapo sergeant, the cruel and repugnant Viktor.

 

 

There are 256 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2020 by ZunTold .

Jacqueline King is a Channel Islander living in Somerset, who has written about everything and everyone ever since she could first grasp a pencil. She cut her teaching teeth alongside Robert Westall in her first post in a Cheshire school and has spent half a lifetime telling stories to primary pupils in remote village schools across the UK.