THE LIONS' RUN

An orphan in occupied France during World War II finds his courage and a sense of family.

Thirteen-year-old Lucas Dubois is a foundling who’s growing up in the abbey orphanage in the village of Lamorlaye. He has such a tender heart that the other boys call him “Petit Éclair.” Lucas rescues a litter of kittens from being drowned on a nun’s orders and goes to hide them in one of the stables left empty in nearby Chantilly after their owners took their thoroughbreds and fled from the Nazis. But the stable is already in use—Alice, the teenage daughter of an English horse trainer, is protecting a racehorse from being commissioned for the war until she can be smuggled to Kentucky in a month’s time. Lucas’ job delivering groceries takes him into the nearby Lebensborn, a maternity home that takes babies who meet “Aryan” standards away from their young mothers and sends them for adoption by Nazi families. There, Lucas befriends Claire, who’s desperate to keep her baby, and his empathy leads him to a rash and dangerous nighttime flight along the five-kilometer horse training track known as the Lions’ Run. This immersive story is driven by Lucas’ emotional yearnings and the sometimes complicated relationships among the well-drawn characters, but the history and the specific setting are accurate and carefully delineated, creating a strong sense of place. Klassen’s spot art and map of the region adorn the text.

Compassionate and complex.