Tunis wrote only two novels in the 1960s, both set during World War II. "Silence over Dunkerque" appeared in 1962. It tells the story of the evacuation of Dunkerque during World War II. The book received a starred review from Kirkus. Gail Murray in "Boyhood in America" called it "moving" and "Children Experience Literature" said it was a "grimly realistic picture of warfare and its effect on both soldiers and civilians". According to the International Reading Association, while reading it "children may be helped to understand that history is always someone's interpretation... For in this story the author had the courage to admit that our men were sometimes less than brave in their desperate struggle to survive".