Angels Over Copenhagen

“As if turned to stone, we watch the plane coming closer, slowly.
It can’t be more than 50 meters away.
– It’s going to crash, he says.”

Johannes has seen his grandfather cry but twice, and both times, it was when his grandfather had tried to tell him about the war. About the bombers that flew over Copenhagen. As if his grandfather cannot bring himself to speak. It is only after his grandfather’s death that Johannes learns the truth about that fateful day in March 1945.

Angels Over Copenhagen is a moving and brutal YA novel about life during World War II, about love across generations – and one of the most dramatic and traumatic events in recent Danish history: the bombing of The French School in Copenhagen.

About the author

Jonas Kleinschmidt (born 1982) has a Master’s degree in Danish. He is an author, music editor and cultural journalist. He made his authorial debut in 2017 with the critically acclaimed YA novel, Dig & mig & Zlatan [You & I & Zlatan] (2017). Angels Over Copenhagen is Kleinschmidt’s third novel, and it is inspired by his grandfather’s experience of the bombing of The French School. 

Text translated by Denise Rose Hansen