Daniel & Esther

This debut YA romance by Patrick Raymond follows a young musician struggling with being defiant until he falls in love with a beautiful girl from Australia as the rest of the world faces the looming threat of war.

Moody, defiant, and recently expelled from his last school, Daniel, a musically talented teenage boy, finds himself at Dartington Hall, a progressive school in England. Even with a fresh start, the teachers at his new school find Daniel rebellious and difficult, and it’s not long before he’s in serious trouble.

But when Daniel meets Esther, a new, younger girl from Australia, her proud, distant beauty captures his heart. Initially, Daniel finds himself getting into even greater trouble trying to impress Esther until he falls under the guidance of a German composer. Even as Daniel becomes less defiant, the world around him and Esther begins to crumble with the constant threat of war forcing the two of them apart.

“In his first YA novel, British writer Raymond evokes the desperation of first love with such gripping immediacy that it takes the breath away.” — Publishers Weekly