Duty Calls: Dunkirk

Fact-filled, swift-paced, and exciting, never flinching from the brutalities of war, this novel relates the experience of a 16-year-old recruit whose introduction to war is the events which caused the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk in 1940. Holland, in his first novel for teenage rather than adult readers, pitches his text accurately, engaging his audience with the concerns, fears and reactions that they might themselves experience in Johnny Hawke's situation.

Much of the human interest lies in the relationship between Private Hawke and his sergeant, his future brother-in-law, and the responsibility each feels for the other. Holland also provides maps, a glossary and a final historical note with suggested further sources.