Eighty-year-old Georgy Jachmenev is haunted by his past. Living in England with his beloved wife, Georgy prepares to make one final journey back to the Russia he once knew and loved. As he remembers days gone by, we are transported to St. Petersburg, to the Winter Palace of the czar, in the early 20th century --- a time of change, threat and bloody revolution. As Georgy overturns the most painful stone of all, we uncover the story of the house of special purpose.

Tristan Sadler is delivering a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War. As Tristan recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will. The intensity of their bond brought Tristan happiness and self-discovery, as well as confusion and unbearable pain.

John Boyne's novel is the gripping story of two boys --- one the son of a commandant in Hitler's army and the other a Jew --- who come face-to-face at a barbed wire fence that separates, and eventually intertwines their lives.