Light of War

Author's name: Michael Ondaatje

It is 1945 in London, still reeling from the aftermath of the war. 14-year-old Nathaniel and his older sister Rachel live isolated from their parents, who have left them in the care of a charismatic man known as "The Moth." They have suspicions about him and his long criminal history, all of which become irrelevant in the face of his companions: men and women who share a secret history, determined to protect and educate them in strange ways based on their unusual experiences, far from their parents in hiding. Twelve years later, Nathaniel reflects on that period of his life and realizes things his young mind could not comprehend. Were his teachers really who they claimed to be? * After a certain age, those we take as heroes stop teaching or guiding us. They choose instead to protect the last land they find themselves in. Bold ideas are replaced by almost hidden needs. Those who once mocked the traditions they fought with laughter, now offer only laughter and no more mockery."