Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief by Katrina Nannestad
About Katrina Nannestad
Katrina Nannestad is an award-winning Australian author. Her books include the CBCA-shortlisted We Are Wolves, The Girl Who Brought Mischief, the Travelling Bookshop series, the Girl, the Dog and the Writer series, the Olive of Groves series, the Red Dirt Diaries series, the Lottie Perkins series, and the historical novel Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief. Katrina’s novel, We Are Wolves, was the winner of the inaugural 2021 ARA Historical Novel Prize.
Katrina grew up in country New South Wales, in a neighbourhood stuffed full of happy children. Her adult years have been spent raising boys, teaching, daydreaming and pursuing her love of stories. Katrina celebrates family, friendship and belonging in her writing. She also loves creating stories that bring joy or hope to other people’s lives.
Katrina now lives on a hillside in central Victoria with her husband, a silly whippet called Olive and a mob of kangaroos. For further information:
A Quote from Katrina Nannestad
“What an honour and a delight to have Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief included on the longlist for the ARA Historical Novel Prize! Historical fiction is a wonderful means of bringing the past alive for our young readers. It allows them to explore important and exciting events in a way that is entertaining, age-appropriate and thought-provoking. This longlist is a real encouragement to writers and an endorsement of the power of storytelling and history.
Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief is about a child soldier, so is a story of sadness, loss, and the tragedy of war. But it’s also a story of hope, a reminder that there are good people on both sides of any conflict, and that kindness has the power to change lives.”
About Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief
Wood splinters and Mama screams and the nearest soldier seizes her roughly by the arms. My sister pokes her bruised face out from beneath the table and shouts, ‘Run, Sasha! Run!’
So I run. I run like a rabbit.
It’s spring, 1942. The sky is blue, the air is warm and sweet with the scent of flowers. And then everything is gone. The flowers, the proud geese, the pretty wooden houses, the friendly neighbours. Only Sasha remains.
But one small boy, alone in war-torn Russia, cannot survive. One small boy without a family cannot survive. One small boy without his home cannot survive. What that small boy needs is an army.
