The Land Mine is a novel by Eric Wright.
Derek is a 13-year-old boy growing up in World War II. His father has been deployed to Africa and is fighting there against Rommel. Thankfully for him, despite the constant threat of air raids and the Nazi presence, Derek's neighbourhood managed to get through it unscathed.
Then, one day, a land mine manages to be deployed onto Derek's street, blowing the roof off his, and several other, houses.
Derek and his mom have no choice but to move in with Derek's grandparents, who run a grocery store in town. When Derek's mom has to leave, Derek convinces her to let him stay with the Aged Ps as he calls his grandparents (though not to their faces). Then one day, he discovers a man claiming to be a double agent for the Allies hiding in a bomb shelter. He becomes obsessed with him, deciding to find out of what he says is true or not.
The book was published on May 1st, 2016.
The Land Mine contains examples of:
- Character Narrator: The story is narrated by Derek.
- Dad's Off Fighting in the War: Derek's father, at the time the book takes place, is off in Africa fighting against Erwin Rommel.
- Distant Finale: The final pages of the book take place when Derek is married, and elderly.
- Draft Dodging: Derek's mom suspects his Uncle Ted got out of being enlisted in the army by taking on a job as a storekeeper at a munitions factory at the start of the war.
- Vocal Dissonance: Derek feels this way about the headmaster of the school in Sow-In-The-Wold. He has a very short, egg-shaped body, which caused Derek to suspect he had a very high-pitched voice. His actual voice was really very deep.
