The Extra

A well-researched and uncompromising stand-alone novel focusing on the Nazi genocide of the Roma and Sinti peoples. -Publishers Weekly

In this chilling but ultimately uplifting novel, Kathryn Lasky imagines the lives of the Romani-called the Gypsy Plague by the Nazis-who worked as extras for Hitler’s real favorite filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. Fifteen-year-old Lilo and the other extras are barely fed, closely guarded, and kept in a locked barn when not on the movie set. And Riefenstahl is always present, answering the slightest provocation with malice, flaunting the power to assign prisoners to life or death. When faced with a rare opportunity, Lilo takes matters into her own hands, effecting an escape and running for her life, giving readers a story of survival unlike any other.