This novel for older children and teenagers highlights the panic the British nation felt in spring 1940, when Hitler's army poised for invasion only a few miles away in Calais, the RAF is stretched to the limit, and cities are bombed and burned to the ground. As the plight of children evacuated from Germany is at stake, and desperate refugees are fleeing tyranny, read of the hope and adventure of two teenage boys, one a displaced American and the other a happy-go-lucky Yorkshire lad. Based on true stories and personal accounts, this research project supported by Arts Council England finally tells the story of one of Britain's wartime secrets. When top U.S. scientist Carl Becker moves his family to Britain in May 1940 to work on the new RADAR system, all their lives change forever. While Carl is visiting the Ministry of War, police call at his mother's house to arrest her, his wife, his ten-year-old daughter, and twelve-year-old son, Jacob, sending them to camps on the Isle of Man. All because Carl's mum was born in Germany. As Carl struggles to find them, Jacob is split from the family because he looks older. Jacob is transported with a Yorkshire boy, whose father is German, to a brutal men's internment camp on the island, where Jacob's War starts. Jacob is imprisoned with violent Nazi supporters, witnesses terrible things, and is shipped to Canada on a vessel that is torpedoed. He is shipwrecked and rescued by the U.S. Navy. While the British seem unconcerned, in America, his story goes all the way to President Roosevelt!