Land of milk and honey

"It is 1947 and 14-year-old Jake Neill, a so-called 'British war-orphan', has arrived in New Zealand. His mother is dead, killed in an air raid, and his father has sent Jake and his little sister to a 'better' life in a 'land of milk and honey', far from his ravaged homeland. Separated from his sister, Jake finds himself no more than slave labour on the dairy farm of the gruesome Pearson family. While the parents are bad enough, their son, Darcy, is a monster. Brutalised and bullied, Jake lives a life of misery, until a night that will mark him for life." Suggested level: senior secondary.