Flamingo Boy is vintage Michael Morpurgo, just the kind of story he tells so brilliantly. Eighteen-year old Vincent is ‘following the bend in the road’, letting life take him where it will, and finds himself in the wild and beautiful landscape of the Camargue. There he meets Kezia and Renzo and, as they nurse him through a fever, hears their life stories. Vincent hangs on every word and readers will too as Kezia describes the events that brought her and Renzo together, and the threats and dangers their families faced during the war. It’s a story of love, loss, renewal and reconciliation, vividly told and touching on important issues that matter to every one of us. Inspired by his own grandson, who is autistic, Renzo, the boy with a special connection to nature and animals, is one of Morpurgo’s most striking and vital characters.
A heart-lifting story of hope and courage in a time of war, set in the South of France ‘The storytelling is, as always, irresistible and the characters clasp your heart’ Sunday Times, Children’s Book of the Week There are lots of things Lorenzo doesn’t understand, but he does understand animals – especially the flamingos in the salt flats of his Camargue home, which the Second World War has barely touched. But then the soldiers come, and Lorenzo’s world is threatened. Amongst the Germans, though, is a kind sergeant, and he and Lorenzo may be able to mend what is broken . . .