WELCOME TO THE CHILDREN’S GATEWAY
If you’re a middle-grader reader and love stories about adventure and friendship (and even a bit of time travel!), I wrote my two novels, Running With Ivan and The Year We Escaped, just for you.
Learn more about both books below and happy reading!
I’d also love to visit your school for an author talk so if you’d like to talk all things books and writing, you can get in touch with me here.
Running With Ivan
Yearning to escape the new family he never wanted, thirteen-year-old Leo Arnold is transported to wartime Europe where he must draw on his courage to save himself and those around him.
From award-winning author Suzanne Leal comes a gripping timeslip novel inspired by true stories.
Thirteen-year-old Leo Arnold hates his life. He doesn't want a new school, a new house or a new family. And he definitely doesn't want to be sharing a room with his new stepbrother, Cooper.
What Leo wants is to be somewhere else, far away. So when he uncovers an old music box and turns the key, he is astonished to find himself in Prague, surrounded by whispers and fears of a second world war. A war that ended decades ago.
In Prague, Leo meets Ivan, a Czech boy, and the two become friends. But when World War Two finally erupts, the unimaginable becomes real and the boys are imprisoned. Fearing the worst, Leo and Ivan frantically search for an escape. A search that sends them running.
OUT NOW
The Year We Escaped
For fans of Jackie French and Katrina Nannestad, The Year We Escaped is a heart-stopping and remarkable World War II story by talented author Suzanne Leal.
Europe, 1940
With war on their doorstep, German classmates Klara and Rachel, and French brothers Lucien and Paul, are forced to leave their homes. They are taken to Gurs, a French detention camp in the south-west of France. It's a crowded place, with little comfort and even less food.
When Klara and Rachel are promised safe refuge in a remote French village, Lucien and Paul are anxious to join them — and will risk their own lives to get there.
Filled with adventure, danger and intrigue, this is the story of four unlikely friends desperate to escape from a war that keeps coming closer.
OUT 4 JUNE 2025
WOULD YOU LIKE SUZANNE TO VISIT YOUR SCHOOL?
A highly experienced presenter, Suzanne loves meeting readers and doing school visits.
Running with Ivan is an exciting time travel adventure of two boys who love to run. Written for middle-grade readers (9-13 years) and inspired by real historical events in wartime Europe, it’s a compelling and moving story of friendship, resilience, survival and hope.
To set up a time for a school visit, contact Suzanne.
SUZANNE’S NOVELS
‘Leal is a master storyteller. Impossible to put down.’
NIKKI GEMMELL