Do You like book Fireweed (1972)?
This was one of my favourite books when I was about nine, and I still love it. I think this is possibly down to all the descriptions, and the idea of people moving somewhere new - in this case, Bill and Julie move into a basement and turn it into a home. I was also really interested in the World Wars as a child (an interest which I probably got from my dad). This book is rather unusual for a children's book, as it has a fairly sad ending. I can't think of any other books which I've read which have a sad ending, least not one which still makes the book enjoyable.
—Rachel Brand
This is perhaps 3.75 stars, not quite four. (My opinion has changed, see below.) I love her writing; such beautiful prose, so concrete and direct and carefully measured, and yet it is clearly in her control, for the dialogue sometimes leaps over the lines when the characters are overcome. Her descriptions of London during the war are very good, she captures the confusion of it all, and the strength of people without, I think, undue sentimentalising.So why not five stars? Hmn, that is a good question. I think I should have thought it better if it had worked on two levels; (view spoiler)[ the book is from Bill's point of view, and thus Julie is only seen from his knowledge, and so at the end when she discounts their relationship, it is very hard to know what to make of it. Yes, we see how Bill sees it, and we see how the many years later (six or more) he comes to realise that perhaps more was going on than he understood. But... I think better still if I as the reader had seen Julie so clearly that I knew precisely why she said what she said, and understood it as he could not. Even at the end, all he wonders is if she was lying to her brother so that they could still see each other, without considering other things which might have been happening for her. A lack of agency, perhaps, that Paton Walsh cannot overcome in the point-of-view she chose? I can think of many reasons why Julie might have disclaimed him, from her mother's statement that she is a child (and thus does not understand how Bill feels , who despite the same age is already a man), or the class barriers, or that she is afraid -- but the book does not give us enough of Julie for us to know, and the 'child' argument does not hold up in the rest of the narrative -- and how does a girl of her class know how to clean up a house and make dinners anyway? (hide spoiler)]
—Cassandra
This book I picked up on a whim at the library book sale, it had an interesting cover that piqued my interest of two black silhouetted face standing before a city in flames. The very first page gripped me into the story of refugees emerging from an underground shelter where a teenage boy is lurking by himself and notices a young girl doing just the same. It follows their story of rebellion to ship out of their home city during the war and of their attempt to survive as London is bombed. Despite the demise of their homeland, the characters relish in their freedom from concerned adults and sort of play house together as the city falls around them. The engaging narration style kept me very invested through out the quick read and although the ending was a little unsatisfying I still thoroughly enjoyed the novel.
—Andrea