Alice said nothing could protect a person from an atom bomb attack because atom bombs were so powerful they could blow up a whole country in an instant. Then she would snap her fingers and say it would happen just like that, just like the snap of her fingers.

Gwen wished her friend Alice would stop saying things like that. All Gwen wanted in the world was to go home to Aunt, but she couldn't, not now. And she couldn't stop the air raid horn from blaring in her cars or the newspaper headlines from warning "HEMISPHERE IN GRAVE DANGER." Mrs. West said that down in the tunnels they would all be perfectly safe from an atom bomb attack. Gwen wanted to believe it. But what if Alice was right? Was there anywhere truly safe?

Set in the cold war hysteria of the early 1960s, this strikingly original blend of history, fantasy, and fairy tale will take readers on a miraculous journey into the depths of the earth kitchen and bring them back home again, safe and sound.