49 pages 1 hour read

Katherine Marsh

Nowhere Boy

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018

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Chapters 40-53Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 40 Summary

After school one day, Madame Pauline tells Max that the police finally caught the Paris terrorist in Molenbeek. Max asks Madame Pauline what happened to Ralph Mayer after the Nazis discovered him living in the house. Madame Pauline tells Max how Mayer escaped from the Gestapo. She says that when the Gestapo knocked on the door, Albert told his son, Pierre, to warn Mayer to run. Since Mayer slept upstairs, he ran along the roofs of the houses to escape. Pierre and another neighbor found Mayer later and hid him in the basement of the museum, where the neighbor worked until the war ended.

That night, Max tells Ahmed that the police caught the terrorist. Max thinks that people will start to relax about the refugee crisis. Since everyone at school likes Ahmed, Max suggests that they explain Ahmed’s situation to an adult, like Madame Legrand, who may try to help him rather than report him. Ahmed agrees to think about it.

Chapter 41 Summary

Max’s mom picks him up from school during the day. Max looks confused, but Ahmed assumes that it must be for an appointment. Over the next few minutes, other parents come to pick up their children, and Ahmed knows that something else has happened.