It is May 1918, war is sweeping Europe, and a group of boys await graduation in their near-deserted town. Drawn close by an unspoken fear of leaving home to fight, they retreat into a clandestine world of codes, hideaways and fierce invention - until one day a stranger enters their lives and their secret is exposed. From the great Hungarian author of Embers, The Rebels is the story of a final, precious summer: a haunting novel of youthful exuberance burning in the face of irrevocable change.