Simple, no frills prose and story telling that occasionally had me thinking I was reading a middle grade novel.  The sexual violence content, however, put it squarely outside of that age group.  By the end of the book I found, to my surprise, that I cared about the characters in a way I hadn't at the beginning - it had sort of crept up on me - and the final chapters were very moving. The book has also taught me about a particular event in WWII that I knew nothing about (which is part of the reason I love historical fiction so much).

A wonderful read about an aspect of World War II I knew nothing about. The fact that Brownies and Guides, played a major part in the story was a great bonus to this Girlguiding leader.
The characters were believable and well drawn, and the alternating chapters between the teacher and a child gave a good view of the situation from different points of view.
There was so much in this story that was sad and devastating, but so much of hope and inspiration too. An insight into the best (and worst) of human nature and into how resilient people can be.