Ice Maiden
Sally Prue
Published by Oxford
ISBN 978 0 19 272965 1
Sally Prue's Ice Maiden is a clever and intriguing mix of reality and fairy story. If the thought of reading anything to do with fairies is not for you, think again. Prue's fairies are not your usual flimsy, goody-goody creatures. They are tough, fierce and fighting for survival.
Ice Maiden is firmly anchored in the real world. We are in Britain in 1939, on the brink of war. In Germany, the Nazis are savagely cleansing their country of Jews.
German teenager Franz and his parents are living in England. Franz is an outsider. The local teenage boys are wary of the German boy in their village, and they either bully or avoid him.
Franz knows that his parents are members of the Nazi Party, and he does not trust them, leading to a wide gulf between parents and son. Franz has seen frightening things in Germany, and his parents are obviously hiding a lot from him. He's not a particularly happy young man.
But there is one place where Franz feels safe and happy. Outside the village there is a stretch of wild countryside called the common, and Franz spends much time there enjoying the wildlife, trees and plants. But Franz does not realise that something is watching him.