pp 127 Old paperback in very good condition; clean age toned pages; very light edgewear; spine is tipped at top/bottom; small amount of marker on front cover; Signet P2479Set in Danzig, Germany during World War II and centered on the narrator's vivid recollection of a boyhood scene, this marvelously entertaining, powerful and at times very funny narrative explores the serious undercurrent of what it means to be human in an age of wars and rebellions staged for the world's political theatre. To compensate for his unusually large Adam’s apple—source of both discomfort and distress—fourteen year old Joachim Mahlke turns himself into athlete and ace diver. Soon he is known to his peers and his nation as “The Great Mahlke”. But to his enemies, he remains a target. He is different and doomed in a country scarred by the war.