The novel is about a young Hungarian boy, György "Gyuri" Köves, living in
Budapest. The book opens as György's father is being sent to a labor camp. Soon afterwards, György receives working papers and travels to work outside of the Jewish quarter. One day all of the Jews are pulled off of the buses leaving the
Jewish quarter, and are sent to
Auschwitz on a train without water. Arriving there, György lies about his age, unknowingly saving his own life, and tells us of camp life and the conditions he faces. Eventually he is sent to
Buchenwald, and continues on describing his life in a concentration camp, before being finally sent to another camp in
Zeitz. György falls ill and nears death, but remains alive and is eventually sent to a hospital facility in a concentration camp until the war ends. Returning to
Budapest, he is confronted with those who were not sent to camps and had just recently begun to hear of the terrible injustice and suffering. == Film adaptation ==