A classic children’s novel, and a lovely heart-warming book about a young boy evacuated from an abusive mother in London to the English countryside as war gets under way in 1939, and how he and the widower on whom he is billeted find love, happiness, sadness and personal growth. One more or less knows what is going to happen from the setup, but there were a few unexpected twists, and some lovely lyrical set-pieces towards the end when the main narrative starts to slow down – thinking particularly of the seaside holiday chapter, and the introduction of the new art teacher in the supposedly haunted cottage. A real page-turner as well – I found myself lost in it, without necessarily racing through it. Strongly recommended.
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You can tell that the Americans are checking in: Pride & Prejudice is now neck-and-neck with Where the Wild Things Are instead. The latter perhaps being required reading for all English speaking children; Stig of the Dump is a new title to me.
There were a few titles I may have read but can’t recall for sure (Podkayne of Mars, the Burroughs, the Holt, the Heyer, the Verne). I would have read them before I was 21, some possibly even when I was barely in double digit ages.