We Are Wolves chapter sampler

At bedtime, Mama lies Mia in her cot and we sing her favourite nursery rhyme, ‘All My Ducklings’. Mia babbles along and makes her hands into beaks for the ducklings, doves, chickens and goslings. Then we sing her lullabies filled with stars and angels, roses and sheep, until she falls asleep. Mama tucks Otto and me into our big bed and tells us a story. ‘Once upon a time there was a king who had twelve daughters–’ ‘No! No!’ shouts Otto. ‘There was a soldier. A German soldier. And his name was Otto.’ The war has taken over our bedtime stories just as it has Otto’s games. He was only two when the war started – too young to remember any other life. Mama nods and tries again. ‘Once upon a time there was a soldier called Otto and a beautiful, downtrodden girl called Cinderella–’ ‘No! No! No!’ shouts Otto. ‘The girl is called Liesl.’ It’s the same every night. Mama tells the story and Otto interrupts all the way through. Otto is always the brave German soldier who wins battles against bears, vicious ravens, enchanted fish, wicked witches, the British Airforce, the American Navy and the Russian Army. Sometimes there is just one enemy, but usually there will be a combination – ferocious bears working alongside the Russian Army, eye-pecking ravens flying through the sky with the British Airforce, hungry fish waiting for the American Navy to

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