September 1919. Young Tristan travels to the English countryside to pass on a bunch of letters to Will, with whom he fought in World War I. But the letters are just a pretext for this trip . It is a secret that he has been carrying in his soul for a long time. Immersed in memories of a senseless and cruel war, of friendship with Will, of how this friendship made him happy and unhappy at the same time, Tristan tries to understand who Will was and who he is - a traitor, a hero or a victim. The feeling of guilt and shame in the shadow looms in the background of this novel. John Boyne is extremely adept at guiding the reader through the circles of his story, showing that many things that we are ashamed of do not deserve it, and actions that we are sometimes proud of are often a true disgrace.