Gabriel Savrit
Krakow, 1939. Anna Wania is just seven years old when the Germans arrest her father, a linguistics teacher, during an operation to purge intellectuals in Poland. She is left alone. And then she meets the Swallow, a strange, tall man, a swindler who hides aces up his sleeve, and who, like her father, has a talent for languages: Polish, Russian, German, Yiddish… and even the language of birds. The girl is enchanted by this mysterious man and follows him to the unknown. During their wanderings, Anna and Helidanthropos will escape dangers, tame soldiers and gain a friend. But, in a world that has gone crazy, anything can turn out to be dangerous. Even the Swallowman. Gabriel Savit's amazing first novel reveals the hardest aspects of life while at the same time praising its wonders.
