The English version was translated from German by Lynn Aubry, illustrated by Emanuel Schongut and published in 1967 by Doubleday.

[1] The story is about the adventures of Zora and a band of children who live in the ruins of an Uskok castle on the coast of Croatia.

They are frequently involved in conflicts with the town's residents and reject the authority of adults, except for Gorian, an old fisherman who helps the children.

The book is based on his experiences with these orphaned children in the Croatian city of Senj, where there is a castle called Nehaj Fortress.

In real life as in the story, the first child Kläber met in Senj was Branko, a boy who had recently been orphaned.

Instead he wrote the children's story, intending to make it a political tool to draw attention to marginalized people in Europe.

The book recounts the children's adventures as they live by the rules of their community and come into conflict with the city's residents.