Takis, Stavroula, Allegra, Pepo, Aris, Eleni, Hector, Angeliki, and Luna live in Thessaloniki during the dark years of the German Occupation. In a city that the German boot tries to humiliate from end to end, they struggle to survive and at the same time resist Nazism. They experience events that define them and often fight to escape the death that surrounds them. And amidst the great historical events, desperate loves, brotherly friendships, acts of selflessness, and returns from past debts unfold. And sometimes it is the dice of fate that decide between death and life. The Barefoot Heroes is a historical novel about the Occupation and the Resistance, about the barefoot battalion and the extermination of the Jews of the city. The Barefoot Heroes is above all the story of the simple, everyday people who gained the stature of those who write history with their own actions. "Reading this book brought to mind a motto from the Children's Formation: 'to delight and to teach.' I think it says what I wanted to say." Alki Zei "Alexandra Mitsiali manages on the one hand to bring to life neighborhoods of Thessaloniki that have now disappeared or been altered and on the other hand to describe with admirable vividness the daily life of a group of children who lived through the difficult years of the German Occupation. But mainly she uses the historical past with a sensitized and properly structured politically human stance. Yesterday may remind us of today... But today may also want to prevent the return of yesterday." Manos Kontoleon "The well-known author returns with a historical novel that refers to the period of the Occupation in Thessaloniki and is her best work so far. [...] Anxiety, sadness, humor, anger, and continuous action in a novel that will surely be discussed both for its subject and for its excellent quality of writing." Filippos Mandilaras