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Now or Never: A Dunkirk Story

by Bali Rai

Interest age: 10 to 13
Reading age: 9+

Published by Scholastic Children’s Books, 2019

  • Chapter books
  • Historical
  • Non-fiction

About this book

Narrated by Private Fazal Khan, a young Muslim soldier in Company 32 of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps, this is a moving and insightful account of a key event in the Second World War. Fifteen-year-old Fazal runs away from his family in northern India and lies about his age to join up and serve the British Empire, just as his grandfather did during World War I. His role is to look after the mules used to carry supplies to the front line, which he performs with diligence and pride.

Fazal’s romantic views of duty, loyalty and honour are challenged when he arrives in France during the freezing winter of 1939 and experiences the harsh realities of war. Despite the sacrifices made by members of Company 32, not everyone treats them as equals, which becomes shockingly apparent as they await evacuation at Dunkirk.

Voices is a thought-provoking series of stories based on true events, aiming to highlight the valuable and often overlooked contribution made by immigrants to Britain throughout history. Written by a range of highly regarded children’s authors, these tales bring different historical periods to life for a young audience.

About the author

Bali Rai was born in 1971 and raised as a working class Punjabi in Leicester. He grew up in a deprived area of Leicester, a city which is almost unique in terms of cultural mix and his style of writing is firmly grounded in the reality that he has seen around him since he was a child. The senior school he attended was about 80% BAME - 20% white children in terms of ethnic makeup.

Bali Rai has been writing short stories and poetry since the age of eight. As a child he made up wild and exciting stories and his imagination has been vivid ever since. At school he excelled at English language and told his teachers that he would one day be a writer.

He left school with eight GCSE’s and English was always his favourite subject. After school he did three a-levels at a local sixth form - none of which was English Literature, which he now regrets. He went on to graduate from Southbank University in London with a 2:1 in politics and since then he has had various jobs in retail, cinema, and telesales and has kept a keen, almost obsessive, interest in current affairs.

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