karen autio

Ever since 13-year-old Saara returned from caring for her family’s relatives, she’s been so grown-up and focused on her goal of becoming a teacher. Nine-year-old John jokes and plays pranks, but instead of laughs, all he gets is nagging. What really drives him crazy, though, is what his older sister won’t take seriously: the possibility that enemy spies and saboteurs might be at work in 1915 in Canada—even right here in Port Arthur, Ontario. She thinks that sort of thing only happens in important places.

But for once, John knows better. As a newsboy, he’s aware that all of Canada’s grain headed for hungry sol­diers in Europe comes through Port Arthur first. He’s read the reports of bridges blown up and spies captured. Like Saara, John has a dream: to be a reporter. So he keeps his eyes peeled, waiting for the big story.

Meanwhile, Saara worries about the mountain of schoolwork she must make up, and about her German friend who’s hauled off to an internment camp with her family. And then there’s her brother—a pest! A nuisance! A TRIAL! She and John can’t stop fighting.

Suddenly, a saboteur does strike—and even more shockingly, Saara and John’s own family is in danger! Can sister and brother finally trust each other and work together to save their family?

In this final book of the trilogy about the Finnish Mäki family in early Thunder Bay, author Karen Autio responds to readers’ requests for “more about John!” She has crafted an adventure tale based on real espionage, sabotage and paranoia in Canada during the Great War, a tale cleverly told in Saara’s and John’s alternating points of view.