ILSE-MARGRET VOGEL was born and raised in Germany. She lived in Berlin during World War II and moved to the United States in 1950. She and her husband, Howard Knotts, are authors of many books for children and young adults. They live in upstate New York. A docudrama based on Vogel’s life, Daybreak, Berlin by Los Angeles filmmaker Laura Bialis, was released by Sirene Films in March 2001.


“It is the combination of wartime detail, real and present danger, and the author’s constant burning hatred of Nazism, almost adolescent in its truculent disregard for sense and safety, that makes Bad Times, Good Friends an engrossing and engaging book…Its characters are neither heroes nor ideologues; they were simply young people, in their 20’s, living at a bad time, following their instincts and trying to survive without becoming a part of a regime they despised.”—New York Times Book Review