"Kalteis has crafted a propulsive historical page-turner. He is unflinching in his portrayal of both the brutality and banality of Nazism, as well as the ice cold randomness of war as it impacts people on all sides. Rust and Bone is a clear-eyed exploration of the depths and heights the human spirit can achieve." -- Philipp Schott, author of The Willow Wren In the winter of 1945, a German village deep inside Ukraine burns under Russian assault. Young Jakob Fritsch, torn from his family, is forced onto a cattle car bound for a work camp where death looms. When a Stuka's bomb derails the train, Jakob escapes the smoking wreckage alongside two untrustworthy survivors. They forge through snow-laden wilderness, hunted by soldiers and partisans. A tragic turn forces Jakob to go on alone.

Starving and freezing, he braves the perilous countryside of Poland en route to Berlin -- the only place he can go -- which is being torn apart from all sides. Far away in the shattered outskirts of Berlin, Frida Beckmann lives amid relentless bombing raids and encroaching Soviet forces. With her father in a prison camp and her mother broken by grief, Frida shoulders the weight of her family's survival. Tested by hardship, betrayal and loss, she is pushed well beyond her years. Jakob and Frida navigate their war-torn paths, struggling to survive in a time stripped of mercy -- seeking refuge when all the world's gone mad. DIETRICH KALTEIS is the winner of the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for Best Crime Novel for Under an Outlaw Moon and a nominee for the 2024 Dashiell Hammett Prize for Literary Excellence for Crooked . Acclaimed by critics and readers in Canada and abroad, he is the author of thirteen novels. Kalteis enjoys life with his family on Canada's beautiful West Coast.