Stay where you are & then leave / Boyne, John

Four years after Alfie Summerfield's father left London to become a soldier in World War I he has not returned but Alfie, now nine, is shining shoes at King's Cross Station when he happens to learn that his father is at a nearby hospital being treated for shell shock.

Four years after Alfie Summerfield's father left London to become a soldier in World War I, he has not returned but Alfie, now nine, is shining shoes at King's Cross Station when he happens to learn that his father is at a nearby hospital being treated for shell shock.

The day the First World War broke out, Alfie Summerfield's father promised he wouldn't go away to fight; but he broke that promise the following day. Four years later, Alfie doesn't know where his father might be, other than that he's away on a special, secret mission. While shining shoes at King's Cross Station, Alfie realizes his father is in a hospital close by; a hospital treating soldiers with shell shock. Alfie isn't sure what shell shock is, but he is determined to rescue his father.