FELIX is a little boy who lives in hope: that one day his mum and dad will come back to get him.

He lives in a convent orphanage high in the mountains in Poland, along with other little boys with crooked teeth and hungry faces.

But Felix is different. Because his parents are Jewish booksellers: and the year is 1942.

One day, in his bowl of thin cabbage soup, he finds something extraordinary: a whole carrot!

It's unheard of: up in the mountains, the nuns can't grow carrots.

It's a sign, Felix realises. "At last. Thank you God, Jesus, Mary, the Pope and Adolf Hitler," he writes. "This carrot is a sign from Mum and Dad. They've sent me their favourite vegetable to let me know their problems are finally over."

Escaping from the orphanage, Felix sets off on a journey through Nazi-occupied Poland to find his parents, befriending a little orphan girl called Zelda and a kindly dentist, Barney. But when the Nazis discover them, Barney makes the ultimate sacrifice for the children.

A searing story of survival in the midst of horror, told in the unbelieving, uncomprehending voice of a little boy.