Caravans in the Dark Format: Paperback

Fifteen-year-old Jana’s Romani family leads a nomadic life, traveling and trading horses, in Czechoslovakia. When her family relocates to Prague one step ahead of the Nazi invasion, Jana becomes a freedom fighter. She gets a job in the Prague castle, where secret messages are hidden inside of clocks and she must smuggle them out of the castle and pass them on to the Resistance.

After the Nazis close all Czech colleges and universities, Jana and two of her peers—her Resistance contact, Otto, who was the first in his family to attend college, and a fellow student, Albert—are even more determined to free their country from the Nazi oppressors. All three will face danger and desperate choices as they learn that this fight will cost them more than they ever imagined.

In this coming-of-age story set in extraordinary times, Jana and her friends strive to find love and their place in the world—even as they fight the Nazi occupation of their country.

B. K. Oldre is a former librarian with a BA in English literature and an MLIS degree. She studied writing at the University of Minnesota and The Loft Literary Center, where she completed the year-long class The Novel Writing Project, taught by best-selling author Peter Geye. She writes short stories, historical fiction, and historical mysteries. She and her husband live in Minneapolis, Minnesota.