The Boy Who Didn't Want to Die: A Graphic Memoir

"Deeply moving" - Booktrust "A gripping story of love, courage and triumph over evil" - The Bookseller "Can, and should, be read by an audience of any age." - Jewish News WINNER: THE UK LITERACY ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARDS 2024: INFORMATION BOOK SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKSELLER CHILDREN'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 A story of survival, of love between mother and son and of enduring hope in the face of unspeakable hardship. An important read. The Boy Who Didn't Want to Die describes an extraordinary journey, made by Peter, a boy of five, through war-torn Europe in 1944 and 1945. Peter and his parents set out from a small Hungarian town, travelling through Austria and then Germany together. Along the way, unforgettable images of adventure flash one after another: sleeping in a tent and then under the sky, discovering a disused brick factory, catching butterflies in the meadows - and as Peter realises that this adventure is really a nightmare - watching bombs falling from the blue sky outside Vienna, learning maths from his mother in Belsen. All this is drawn against a background of terror, starvation, infection and, inevitably, death, before Peter and his mother can return home. - Author Professor Peter Lantos is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and in his previous life was an internationally renowned clinical neuroscientist. His memoir, Parallel Lines (Arcadia Books, 2006) was translated into Hungarian, German and Italian. Closed Horizon (Arcadia, 2012) was his first novel. - Peter was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2020 for 'services to Holocaust education and awareness' - He is one of the last of the generation of survivors and this - his first book for children - will serve as a testimony to his experience. - Peter lives in London. MORE REVIEWS OF THE BOY WHO DIDN'T WANT TO DIE "the book [is] absolutely compelling, partly because it is a true story of extraordinary resilience and survival in unimaginable circumstances, but also because Lantos' stark recollections make very powerful reading." Gaby Wine, The Jewish Chronicle

In this intriguing tale, two distinctly different lives intersect with unpredictable, tragic consequences.John Weyland is a hard working business man, struggling on two fronts. At home, his wife feeds her hunger for self indulgence with material objects, as she desperately climbs the social ladder. At the office, he is tormented by the questionable practices of corporate executives driven by lust for power.Maria Nystrom is a brilliant researcher whose aspiration is to apply her knowledge of chemistry for the betterment of life for mankind. After a brief, failed marriage, she meets John, the two fall in love, and she leads John to a totally different, more fulfilling kind of life. Fate, however, intervenes and John, who has been unable make important decisions, suddenly has to make the most important choice of his life. Will he be able to make it?

In this intriguing tale, two distinctly different lives intersect with unpredictable, tragic consequences.John Weyland is a hard working business man, struggling on two fronts. At home, his wife feeds her hunger for self indulgence with material objects, as she desperately climbs the social ladder. At the office, he is tormented by the questionable practices of corporate executives driven by lust for power.Maria Nystrom is a brilliant researcher whose aspiration is to apply her knowledge of chemistry for the betterment of life for mankind. After a brief, failed marriage, she meets John, the two fall in love, and she leads John to a totally different, more fulfilling kind of life. Fate, however, intervenes and John, who has been unable make important decisions, suddenly has to make the most important choice of his life. Will he be able to make it?