Seven-year-old Anna is captivated by the tall stranger she meets on the streets of Krakow. Maybe it’s because he is kind to her; maybe it’s that he speaks many languages, like she does; maybe it’s the way he charms a small bird. On her own since the Germans took her father, Anna follows him and the two become unlikely traveling companions. The Swallow Man, as Anna calls him, rarely stops walking and reveals little about his life, but he does teach Anna about Wolves (Germans) and Bears (Russians), the natural world, and to speak the language of Road. From all this Anna constructs a story to explain their constant travels. When a Jewish man named Reb Hirschl joins them, he brings laughter and music into Anna’s life again. Reb and the Swallow Man have nothing in common, except Anna. Their shared desire to protect her is enough to bind them as the trio travels across Poland, into the Soviet Union, and back again to avoid the warring armies. Set during World War II, a story that movingly explores love, loss, survival, and sacrifice features an intellectually precocious child whose innocence slowly erodes in a world gone mad. The Swallow Man’s secrets are never fully revealed, but there are clues as he himself enters the wilds of madness. With Anna’s help he finds his way back, and then gifts her the chance for a future. Sophisticated language and ideas, often lyrically expressed, make this novel solidly young adult. (Age 13 and older)

A New York Times Bestseller
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year
A Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
Winner of the Indies Choice Book Award
Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award

"Exquisite." --The Wall Street Journal

"This is masterly storytelling." --The New York Times Book Review

A stunning, beautiful, and ambitious debut novel set in Poland during the Second World War perfect for readers of All the Light We Cannot See and The Book Thief.

Kraków, 1939. A million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. This is no place to grow up. Anna Lania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father, a linguistics professor, during their purge of intellectuals in Poland. She's alone.

And then Anna meets the Swallow Man. He is a mystery, strange and tall, a skilled deceiver with more than a little magic up his sleeve. And when the soldiers in the streets look at him, they see what he wants them to see.

The Swallow Man is not Anna's father--she knows that very well--but she also knows that, like her father, he's in danger of being taken, and like her father, he has a gift for languages: Polish, Russian, German, Yiddish, even Bird. When he summons a bright, beautiful swallow down to his hand to stop her from crying, Anna is entranced. She follows him into the wilderness.

Over the course of their travels together, Anna and the Swallow Man will dodge bombs, tame soldiers, and even, despite their better judgment, make a friend. But in a world gone mad, everything can prove dangerous. Even the Swallow Man.

Destined to become a classic, Gavriel Savit's stunning debut reveals life's hardest lessons while celebrating its miraculous possibilities.