Christine Nöstlinger

'The story I'm going to tell is true. It happened to me. It is a tale of Gunpowdertown’ Life for Cristal has been upside down for a long time. She can’t even remember a time before the war began. Before potatoes for every meal and bombs raining down from the sky. Before being forced to shelter in the dark, damp …

Konrad, a perfectly factory-made seven-year-old, is delivered by mistake to scatter-brained, non-conformist Mrs. Bartolotti, and the two devise a crazy plan to prevent his being reclaimed.

It was Tom who was supposed to go and stay with the family in Vienna, but Jasper went instead. And, as 13-year-old Ewald and his little sister Billie were soon to find out, Jasper was quite a handful.