The Painted Bird

Nearing the end of World War II, somewhere in a small hamlet of battle-scarred Eastern Europe, a Jewish pre-teen boy embarks on a dangerous journey to reunite with his parents. Left all alone to fend for himself, the boy meanders through the hostile uncharted territories of the poverty-stricken, prejudice-filled, and superstition-addled countryside, where evil is everywhere, and the lambs coexist with the wolves. But, somehow, the war child must summon up the courage to survive enslavement, torture, abuse, and a seemingly endless set of increasingly horrible ordeals, as both Adolf Hitler's Nazis and Joseph Stalin's Red Army soldiers roam the region. The boy's world is a bleak, nightmarish place for children and adults alike. Is hope alone enough to persevere?