THE FATED SKY by Henrietta Branford. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

    Described by the publisher as "an epic journey of love and survival", this short historical novel spans almost a lifetime.

    Ran is a teenage girl in Viking Norway. Her family live by fishing and the few animals they keep. They have no slaves and only one servant. Ran has an uneasy relationship with her widowed mother, though she loves her grandmother, Amma.

    The story begins when a stranger comes to their home. Vigut is handsome, strong and assertive. Ran discovers later that he is a man from her mother's past. Her mother had wanted to marry him, but he was poor, and the marriage was not allowed by her family. Right from the start, the mood of the story is ominous. Ran notices that Vigut's horse is not well cared for and shows marks of beating. This man is trouble.

    Vigut travels with Ran and her mother to distant Sessing for the seasonal sacrifice to Odin. It soon becomes clear that Vigut plans to seize Sessing from its owner Finnulf. On the long cold journey the travellers are attacked by wolves, and Ran's mother is mortally wounded. She dies soon after they arrive, leaving Ran in danger, both from Vigut and from the terrifying wise-woman Gullveig. But it's also at Sessing that Ran meets Toki, the man she will come to love, and with whom she will travel to a new life and new adventures.

    Although only 150 pages long, this is an epic story, full of action. It deserves to be read both for its historical drama and for the convincing portrayal of family relationships and of a young girl's troubled emotions. It has certainly made me want to seek out Henrietta Branford's other books.

First published by Hodder in 1996. Now available second-hand from Amazon.

Suitable for ages 12+

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THE SAGA OF ASLAK SLAVE-BORN by Susan Price. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

   In this short book, Susan Price has created an engrossing story of loss and adventure. Sixteen-year-old Aslak - born a slave but freed by his father - sets off on a quest to find his sister Astrid. Until their father's death, Astrid and Aslak had lived at home with their father's legitimate children - but when teenage Aslak returns home from his first trading voyage he finds that his father has died and his brothers have sold Astrid into slavery.

  Aslak's journey takes him to Norway and later to Jorvik (Danish York) in England. Aslak is hasty and quick-tempered and often antagonises people, but he has a friend - a shipmate, Thorgeir - who is more diplomatic and who joins him in his search. Later, Aslak is taken under the wing of an elderly woman, whose story reveals much about the lives and beliefs of the people - especially when his bond with her leads to her offering him an unwanted honour.

  The narrative is rich in detail. We learn how people lived, how their houses were constructed, what their clothes and weapons were like. Most importantly, we briefly inhabit the world as they knew it.

  Those who have read any of the Norse sagas will know that they are full of violence and danger but also strict codes of honour and kinship. What Susan Price has done in this short, accessible book is to write Aslak's story in the style of the sagas without any concessions to modern sensibilities. It all rings true.

Detailed historical notes are included at the end of the book.

First published by A&C Black in 1995.

This edition, available as both paperback and e-book, 2015.

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THE LARK AND THE LAUREL by Barbara Willard. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

  This is the first book in a series of historical novels set in the New Forest. Although there are no dates and very few historical names or facts in the narrative, it's clear at the start that Richard III has just been killed in battle and that his supporters - one of them our heroine's father - are fleeing for their lives. The king, however, is not named, nor the battlefield, nor any details of the political history - and this lack of information has the effect of plunging the reader into the real life of people at the time, when such detail may well have been hazy or unknown.

  A distraught young girl, Cecily Jolland, is brought by her father from London to a house in the New Forest and forcibly handed over to an aunt she has never met before. Cut off from all normal life as she has known it, aristocratic Cecily has to adapt to a slower, more co-operative and down-to-earth way of life, with no servants to attend her. She learns new skills, meets new people, toughens up and - after much resistance - at last comes to love her new home.

  She also falls in love with a neighbour. But there are secrets in Cecily's past, half-remembered events that recur as bad dreams. And she fears what may happen when her father returns...

  This is history written from the inside: what it really felt like to be there. Barbara Willard describes the texture of the daily life of the forest people with either deep local knowledge or inspired research - and certainly with love for the place and its history.

Illustrations by Gareth Floyd.
Published by Longman in 1970.

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THE ILLUSTRATED HASSLE-FREE MAKE YOUR OWN CLOTHES BOOK by Sharon Rosenberg and Joan Wiener. Reviewed by ANN TURNBULL.

   Here's a fun book to inspire you to be both creative and practical during the lockdown.

  I bought my copy in the early 1970s.  It's American, and very much of the hippy era - for example, the authors urge you not to "let the words and pictures put you uptight."  There are instructions for almost every kind of garment you might want: skirts, dresses, pants, tops, waistcoats.  Details such as set-in sleeves and facings are explained. You make the patterns yourself, using the authors' instructions and the very clear diagrams that fill the book.

  It's all about experimenting, covering up rips and holes, recycling, embroidering and re-modelling. There are gathered skirts, A-line skirts, trousers, tops, jackets, bags, men's clothes, and children's clothes and toys - as well as the inevitable kaftans and ponchos.

  Recycling, re-designing, and mending: what could be more appropriate at this time of crisis and climate change?





Published by Studio Vista, 1971.
You may be able to find this edition online.  I did see it, but last time I looked it seemed to have gone.  However there is a new edition, with a more modern cover picture, which is definitely available. 

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THE HOUSE IN NORHAM GARDENS by Penelope Lively Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

 

   I love Penelope Lively's books, and this one is a particular favourite. First published in the 1970s, it's a compelling story with a subtle undercurrent of magic.

   The story is set in a big old house in Oxford during a week or so of snow. In the house live fourteen-year-old Clare Mayfield and her two aunts, Anne and Susan, aged seventy-eight and eighty. The aunts, though loving and erudite, are not capable of running a home, and the household finances are managed by Clare and Mrs Hedges, the domestic help. Unlike the aunts, these two are aware of the shortage of money and unpaid bills, and have found a lodger, Maureen.

   Away from such grown-up concerns, Clare spends time in the attic, unearthing old clothes and other reminders of her ancestors. She notices a strange and unsettling object: a tamburan - a kind of shield with an image painted on it that suggests a face. She begins to have dreams in which she meets tribal people who seem to be missing the tamburan and want it back. These dreams become increasingly urgent and frightening.

   Clare, at fourteen, is on the cusp of adult life. Although the action takes place only over a week or so, for her it's a time of growth and change. The snow persists throughout the story, an enclosing and  confining presence that keeps Clare focused on her disturbing dreams. She visits the Pitt Rivers museum, where she sees another tamburan similar to the one in the attic, and meets Nigerian student John Sempebwa. John helps her in her search for answers and also becomes a second lodger at the aunts' house.

   This is not an eventful story. It's about relationships, growing up, and contacts between people across both space and time. There is a subtle undercurrent of magic. Clare is in the limbo of  adolescence, waiting for her adult life to begin, while the tribal people are losing their ancestral links and also moving towards a new life. In the short time span of this story, deep changes and understandings take place. 

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A SWIFT PURE CRY by Siobhan Dowd. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

I

   I read this book some years ago and remembered little except that I loved it, both for the astonishing story and for the writing.

   The beginning is slow, but far from dull, as it takes the reader into both the outward and inner life of Shell, a fifteen-year-old girl. Shell is coping with grief over the death of her mother a few years before and her father's descent into heavy drinking and neglect of his children. There are two younger children who are left entirely to the care of Shell. She's a loving girl, efficient around the home and the children, but somewhat less of an achiever at school. Her best friend, Bridie Quinn, seems more worldly-wise. There is also Father Rose, the new, uncertain young priest, who is wrestling with the difficulties of his vocation; and Declan Ronan, a charming, clever, self-centred boy who has no care for anyone but himself. Declan roves between Bridie and Shell.

   The inevitable happens. Shell finds she is pregnant - and, because she doesn't know what to do and daren't tell anyone, she retreats into denial. Here the story takes a shocking turn. When I first read this book I could scarcely believe some of the scenes that followed. But there is much more to come - and things get worse, until I started to wonder how much Shell could endure.

   This is a sad, shocking tale (apparently based on a true story) but Shell is a survivor and the ending, although heartbreaking, is also full of joy and hope. The characterisation is utterly convincing and the writing is beautiful: lively, assured, poetic and easy to read.

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DEAR NOBODY by Berlie Doherty. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

   Published in 1991, this Carnegie-winning novel centres on two talented, ambitious young people in love, on the brink of adult life and about to go to separate universities - and how they feel when they realise that their one act of lovemaking has resulted in pregnancy.

   A story like this has a built-in momentum. It takes us through Helen's instinctive denial, followed by growing anxiety, the pregnancy test, and her admission of the truth to herself - and to her boyfriend, Chris.

   Romantic, loving Chris is determined to stay with Helen. Neither of them really thinks through how they can do this. As the pregnancy advances Helen becomes increasingly desperate. She even puts herself in danger in an attempt to abort the pregnancy, but fails. Once her mother realises the truth, events move fast. Helen finds herself being pushed into an unwanted abortion - and yet she is also in despair at the thought of giving up her university place.

   Meanwhile Chris, on holiday abroad with a school friend, is distracted in other ways.

   The complex family situations are detailed and convincing. Every character is rounded, and all develop and change during the course of the story. And when the resolution comes, it feels inevitable and exactly right.

   This is a strong, engrossing story about a common dilemma that has no right or wrong answers, only the natural confusion of people's lives. I'd read it years ago, but - probably because it's so real and true to life - I couldn't remember exactly how it ended. And I certainly couldn't put it down!

   I hope young teens are still reading this story, because this is one situation that will never feel dated.


Available in paperback in several editions by different publishers. The one shown is my own copy,  from Lion Tracks (Harper Collins).

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ISAAC CAMPION by Janni Howker. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

 "Now then, I was twelve, rising thirteen, when our Daniel got killed..."

     This story, told in retrospect in the voice of a very old man remembering his youth, grabbed me from the start. Isaac is the youngest son of horse-dealer Sam Campion - a harsh, violent man whose life revolves around his feud with rival dealer Clem Lacy. Daniel is Campion's favoured eldest son. He's a confident lad who's afraid of nothing and can give as good as he gets. Isaac, by contrast, can do nothing right for his father.

     These are feelings that any child could relate to, and the storytelling has an intimacy that draws the reader in. "I'd have given my heart to my father," Isaac says. "I was no different to any other lad. I wanted his good opinion more than anything else in the world."

     When Daniel dies in an accident, Isaac's father blames the Laceys, using his grief to fuel his own hatred of his rival and plan revenge. Isaac is forced to leave school and take his brother's place. How he gains control of his destiny and finds a life and future of his own makes for a powerful story.

     Janni Howker's writing is always a joy to read. Here, for instance, is Isaac watching the horses:
   
      "...most of all I loved to see all those unbroken yearlings and mares my father brought back from Ireland, galloping together in a field, bunching together like a shoal of great fish. I loved them when they were like that - brown and black, roan and piebald, all different shades of colour, running together, with the big muscles in their shoulders and their tails flicked high... Oh, I'd the wrong idea of horses to be working in my father's stable yard. I wanted to see them galloping away over the hills. My father wanted them broken to his command at the end of a long rein."

     This short book is such a pleasure to read that I want to quote all of it! But I'll restrain myself and just urge you to get hold of a copy and see for yourself.




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In That Time of Secrets by Ann Turnbull reviewed by Adèle Geras

My usual disclaimer: I've been a friend of Ann Turnbull's for decades and we've also both written books for the  Historical House series, from Usborne books, together with Linda Newbery. So I couldn't be more partial but as I often say: I can't help it if lots of my friends are good writers. No one chides Nigella for being friends with Diana Henry, or worries if artists praise one another. So I'm going ahead and recommending this book.

Turnbull is a most rare sort of writer in these fast, internetty times. If I had to choose two words to describe her, they would be 'quiet' and 'elegant.'  She is the opposite of flashy and sensational, and yet the subjects she often writes about are laden with emotion and conflict and turmoil which she manages to make both moving and resonant, through the deliberately careful and rational unfolding of the narrative. We are, in this book, in a beautiful house in the Midlands, called Lyde Hall. Mary works as a seamstress and embroiderer in the great house, which we learn from the first scene is the home of a recusant family. Recusants were the Catholics who did not agree to worship in Protestant churches after the Reformation. They hid priests in corners of their houses; they kept the old Faith, and this was a very dangerous thing to do. Anyone caught sheltering priests, or worshipping in the old ways was subject often to terrible tortures and even death. 

For anyone who doesn't know about the Gunpowder Plot, the surprises in the narrative will be genuinely surprising and the skilful way in which Turnbull weaves the known history with a very touching love story is one of the joys of this book. If, like me, you can see  trouble coming from the first page, you will not be amazed at the way things turn out.

Mary falls in love with a young man called David, who is Lady Chilton's secretary. It's only later that she learns David is on his way to France to train as a Jesuit priest. Her love for him is doomed, but she persists in hoping...

Her brother, Rob, is caught in the backwash of the Gunpowder Plot. Turnbull is not one to dwell on the horrors of hanging, drawing and quartering but there's one paragraph where she spells out the details. Rather, she's the sort of writer who says a lot through understatement. For instance: He flinched when she touched him, either from pain or the fear of it.  There's a world of horror behind those words.

 The best thing about this book is the way Lyde Hall is brought to life. We meet its inhabitants, we are shown how life is lived there without an overloading of description. Turnbull is economical and spare and yet we see everything. I particularly liked the embroidery details which are again, very few but very telling.  I don't often quote long passages from books I'm reviewing, but as an example of Turnbull's restrained and yet resonant style, I'm quoting this, so that readers can glimpse something of the tone of this fascinating and moving novel. Mary is remembering the church she attends at home, in Dudley.  "There, between the base of the wall and an oak upright, where the whitewash petered out in rough brush strokes, you could see a woman's shoe, and over it the folds of a robe- green with a black and gold border, looped up over a kirtle of faded rose. The end of a gold belt or tassel hung down, and higher up was the trace of a hand. A saint, my mother said. But which one?"

Which one turns out to be very important, of course. No word or description is there merely for the sake of ornament. Do click on this link and buy it. You will not regret it, I promise. 

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FOR MARITSA, WITH LOVE by Enid Richemont. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

     I loved this story. Gypsy girl Maritsa, nearly thirteen - a bright, streetwise child - separates herself from the other youngsters in her family and spends a few days alone in Paris just before Christmas, living in the Metro subways. She's enchanted by the sparkling, brightly-lit city with its buskers and street traders and stalls selling freshly-made pancakes.

     Maritsa, with her skilled patter and thieving ways, is cunning and knows how to manipulate people, but she comes from a close-knit community and she's very aware of others around her on the margins of society. Instinctively kind and caring, she makes friends. One of these is Rose, a cantankerous old woman - a former school teacher fallen on hard times - who contributes much to the pleasure of this story. She and Maritsa fulfil deep emotional needs in each other.

     But the glittering city has a dark underside, and Maritsa is a vulnerable young girl. It soon becomes clear that she is drifting into danger, lured by promises of a screen test from a sinister couple who befriend her. And there are others, also watching and following her. All these details are woven into the apparently random events of Maritsa's few days in Paris. In the climax the whole truth is revealed - and this reader didn't see it coming.

     This is a story that pulls no punches. It's grim in places. But we also see Paris through the eyes of the young girl with her love of bright colours, twinkling lights and sugary food - a child who revels in making new friends and is eager to learn. The writing sparkles with life and colour - and the ending is satisfying.




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Song for a Dark Queen by Rosemary Sutcliff. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

"So we would ride through the neck of the forest, and down to the black skin boats waiting among the reeds. The Queen wrapped in an old wolfskin cloak against the chill of the water-mists, and no sound as we journeyed but the salty lap and suckle of the water among the sedges, and somewhere a bittern booming in the night..."

Rosemary Sutcliff was one of the most popular and admired authors of historical fiction for children in the 1950s and 60s. Surprisingly, I never came across her books as a child, and have since read only a few. Song for a Dark Queen (1978) is one of her later novels and benefits from the re-kindling of interest in Boudicca and in women's history generally. It tells the familiar story of the queen of the Iceni tribe in what we now call Norfolk, and the revolt she led against Roman rule. Rosemary Sutcliff envisages the Iceni as having a matriarchal royal line, so it is Boudicca, the queen, rather than Prasutagus, her husband, who is the ruler of her people.

The story is narrated mainly in the voice of Cadman, Boudicca's harper, a man who had known and attended upon her since she was a child, but who himself seems ageless and without personality. He is there simply to record her life and deeds, so that he can make a song of it for future generations.

The style is epic, well-suited to the story of a great queen. But in the latter part of the book a different voice appears from time to time: that of a young tribune whose chatty letters to his mother in Gaul are a welcome contrast. These not only give information about the Romans' tactics, but provide a down-to-earth voice to balance the heroic narrative of Cadman.

The Iceni were horse-breeders and farmers, and there is beautiful, detailed description throughout of the countryside, seasons and animals. The story has excellent pace and tension. It recreates the lives of the British tribes and their religion and makes sense of some of their seemingly barbaric practices. All this detail is woven into the story so that it illuminates rather than weighs down the feelings and actions of the characters.

This book should appeal to readers of 10+ who respond to its style and descriptive power.




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FORGOTTEN FOOTPRINTS by ROSEMARY HAYES. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

 
   I was first drawn to this book by the beautiful cover. It's a dramatic adventure story based on the real-life loss of a Dutch merchant ship, the Zuytdorp, in a storm in 1712 off the west coast of Australia. From the known facts - that the ship had lost contact with her sister ship, that food supplies were low, and that some of the people aboard were known to have survived, Rosemary Hayes has created a strong, credible and moving narrative with a powerful heroine.

   Fifteen-year-old Annie is the daughter of Andries Jansz, an employee of the Dutch East India Company, and his pregnant wife Susan. Andries is going out to a new job, overseeing the company's warehouses in Java. On the long voyage Annie meets Francois, a young midshipman, and their developing youthful romance runs alongside Annie's involvement in helping the ship's doctor with his work and in teaching a downtrodden ship's boy to read and write.

   The voyage is beset by problems - bad weather, fever and delays - and many people die, including the doctor. Andries becomes ill with fever, and Susan is forced to give birth to her child - the longed-for son - on board ship.

   From this point on, the story becomes unputdownable as the ship is pounded by violent storms and eventually wrecked on the coast of Australia. Half of those on board are drowned; others die later as they struggle to survive and set up a camp.

   How the survivors make a place to live, encounter local tribes and hunt for food, makes for a dramatic story. Susan feeds the baby, but she has lost the will to live, and it's Annie who must take care of him, while Francois protects her from the attentions of some of the rougher men. She is able to rely on Francois until the moment when he has to leave with a group of crewmen seeking a better site for a permanent settlement.

   This is a well-constructed story in which every element is made to count. It grows and develops and delivers a powerful ending that took me by surprise.  Easy to read, with strong emotions and plenty of action, it's suitable for anyone aged about eleven or over.


Published by Troika Books, 2017.


www.annturnbull.com




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THE BEAUTIFUL ONE by Frances Thomas. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

 
   Readers who enjoyed Frances Thomas's recent Girls of Troy trilogy will welcome this story (available in e-book form only) which goes back in time and visits Helen of Sparta as a young girl.

   The story begins with Helen waking to find a swan's feather on her bed. The appearance of this feather at key moments serves to remind Helen of the whispers that her mother was raped by Zeus in the form of a swan. Helen is aware of a weight of destiny, but doesn't know what it is that lies ahead of her. For the reader, however, certain names - Paris, Iphigenia, Agamemnon - drop into the narrative and send out ripples of premonition.

   The emphasis in this beautifully written short novel is on Helen's thoughts and feelings. Frances Thomas wisely avoids the modern tendency to make her heroine unrealistically active and assertive. Helen often wishes she could have a life more like that of her beloved brothers, but she knows she can't achieve it. So this is mainly an 'interior' story, but none the less compelling for that. Helen's thoughts, hopes and fears are so involving that the narrative never feels slow. We tend to think of Spartan women as bold and active because in later times they were trained for combat and the whole society was warlike, but it was different in Helen's time, especially for a princess, and we see Helen and her sister Clytemnestra living very restricted lives, rarely leaving the palace and its surrounds, but occupied with weaving and waiting to be married. No other future was possible for them. So it's hardly surprising that Helen spends a lot of time wondering about love and sex and childbearing.

   She also thinks about her own beauty, which is already famous. Not surprisingly, she finds it something of a burden - the more so when the terrifying, brutish Theseus visits her father and makes it clear that he wants Helen for his wife.

   The climax of the story is the arrival of suitors from all the warring kingdoms and the ensuing mayhem as they drink and fight and vie for Helen's hand. At the end of this Helen must choose the man she will marry.

   This is a realistic picture of a violent time - a man's world in which rival kingdoms struggled for power. Frances Thomas does not pull any punches in showing just how hard a world it was for women to inhabit.


Published by sBooks (an imprint of SilverWood Books), 2017.   E-book only.


www.annturnbull.com

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THE FLITHER PICKERS and THE HERRING GIRLS by Theresa Tomlinson. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

   These two stories (now newly published in one volume) celebrate the lives of the fishing communities around Whitby. Theresa Tomlinson was inspired not only by the history of these places but by the photographs of working people taken by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe around 1900. Some of his photographs illustrate and enhance this book.

   Both stories are about families in the same village, and both are about young girls on the cusp of adulthood growing up in difficult circumstances, making important decisions about their futures and gaining a sense of self-worth. In The Flither Pickers Liza, caught up in troubling adult concerns, seeks and gradually unravels the reason for her mother's emotional distance, and begins to develop a closer relationship with her.

   The Herring Girls, set a few years later, focuses on thirteen year old Dory, whose father has died and whose Mam has become the village washerwoman in order to support the family. When Mam has a stroke the children are in danger of being sent to the workhouse, and will do anything to prevent this calamity. Dory's eleven year old brother joins the fishing fleet, and Dory goes to Whitby to become a herring girl.

   Much of this story is about the hard, skilled work of the herring girls. Dory and her friends learn how to gut the fish, and do it fast - though they can never match the speed of the 'Scotch' girls who dominate the trade. The work is so relentless that the young girls can hardly stand, can't stop to wash or change their clothes, and fall into bed each night exhausted. But they succeed. And by the end of the summer, not only have they made enough money, they've made friends with the Scotch girls - and Dory has knitted her first gansey, for her brother.

   There are no easy endings in these stories. Liza gets a job as a children's nanny but loses it; Dory's Mam doesn't entirely recover, and Dory must face the necessity of taking on her mother's job of washerwoman over the winter. But somehow this makes for an upbeat ending. And when Dory says, "I'm a herring girl - I can do anything," you believe her and want to cheer for her.



The Flither Pickers was first published in 1987 and The Herring Girls in 1994. Since then they have both been through several editions, apart and together. This edition is published by The Old Print Workshop, 2017.


www.annturnbull.com

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MAYBE A FOX by Kathi Appelt & Alison McGhee. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

I wasn't sure if I would like this book. I feared it might be sentimental, with its themes of death and grieving combined with animal spirits. It does balance on the edge - and personally I would have cut the last chapter altogether. But what I loved about the story was its immersion in the imaginative world of children.

Place is all-important here: the deep mysterious woods of snowy Vermont. Sisters Sylvie and Jules, aged twelve and eleven, live in these woods with their father; their mother died some years ago. Sylvie loves to run; but there's something driven about her running, her desire to go ever faster. Jules collects rocks - she's a budding geologist - and some of these rocks are special: the children call them 'wish rocks'. There are neighbours: Mrs Harless, with her local stories and legends; the girls' school friend, Sam; and Sam's grown-up brother, Elk, who fought in Afghanistan and lost his best friend there. The woods are also home to animals: foxes, bears, and perhaps the mysterious catamount that Sam longs to see.

The girls' father has given them rules they call the 'Do Nots' - the most important being 'Do not ever go to the Slip.' The Slip is a place where the river vanishes suddenly into a deep pool in an underground cave, re-emerging some distance away. Nothing that falls into the Slip can escape. The sisters - despite the 'Do Nots' - often take wish rocks to the Slip and throw them in. Behind all their games is a longing for things to be as they were, and for them to be reunited with their lost mother.

Running parallel to the story of Jules and Sylvie is that of Senna, a fox cub possessed of a mysterious empathy with humans, whose fate is entwined with Sylvie's. Senna, driven by her intuition, roams the woods in search of the human whose destiny she shares.

This is a magical story with a setting reminiscent of the snowy forests of European fairy tales. The characters, however, are real and modern, and the children's quarrels and obsessions ring true, giving a solid reality to semi-magical events. Its themes of loss and longing are universal, and the link with animals will have undoubted appeal for children.


Published by Walker Books, 2016.


www.annturnbull.com

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THE RED SHOE by Ursula Dubosarsky. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

I loved this book. It's a complex, funny, sad but ultimately hopeful family story.

Three sisters are living in Sydney in 1954. Elizabeth is fifteen, Frances eleven, and Matilda six. Their father, who was traumatised by his experiences during the war, is in the merchant navy. The main viewpoint is Matilda's, and the author captures perfectly the small but utterly absorbing world of the six-year-old. But behind the ordinary events of childhood (playing in the garden, collecting snails, spying on the mysterious people who have moved in next door) there is a sense of unease, of something wrong in the family, something unspoken. Why is Elizabeth having a nervous breakdown? Why is Uncle Paul so often in the house when Daddy is away? And when will Daddy come home?

Matilda has recently acquired an imaginary companion, Floreal, whose remarks and questions are always unsettling. She doesn't like Floreal and wishes he would go back into the radio, where he came from. Matilda has seen and overheard things, some of which she has repressed - but not so deeply that Floreal can't reach them. At last the memories begin to force their way up and to make sense. And it's Matilda who, in the end, reveals a shocking truth.

Interspersed with the chapters are excerpts from Sydney newspapers of the time which relate to some of the background events in the story and help to build the atmosphere: items about children with polio, the H-bomb, Russian spies, diplomatic visits. The story is set very precisely around Easter 1954, and details of real events are woven into the narrative.

It's difficult to say what age this book is for. Perhaps about twelve - but with no upper age limit. The best thing would be just to have a copy around for anyone who wants to read it. For me, the full complexity of the plot structure was not apparent until I read the story for a second time - and enjoyed and admired it even more. This is a book to keep, share and re-read.

Walker Books, 2015.


www.annturnbull.com

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STRANGE EVIL by Jane Gaskell. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

    Strange Evil was written by fourteen-year-old Jane Gaskell in 1955 and published by Hutchinson two years later.

    My own copy of this book has accompanied me from one home to another throughout most of my life. It was given to me by my parents on my fourteenth birthday, along with a second-hand typewriter and a ream of foolscap, in recognition of my determination to become a writer.

    Imagine how inspiring it was, at fourteen, to be given a published hardback book written by a girl of my own age! And the book was amazing: a fantasy of travel between two worlds, of dangerous and beautiful fairies, and an epic struggle for survival. In my teens I read it many times, but until recently I had not re-read it for more than fifty years - though it has remained vivid in my memory.

    So how did it measure up? Well, I could see at once why Hutchinson had felt they must publish it. In doing so they decided to leave the 'youthful sparkle' of Jane's writing largely unchanged. And sparkle it does! Jane had not only the imagination but the verbal power to bring her alien world and characters to life.

    It's a typical fantasy story line: a beautiful unspoilt world - lush vegetation, fairy beings, satyrs and homely rustic folk - erupts into warfare. But the plot is complex, cleverly worked out, and you don't see what is coming. The best thing about the story is that Jane chose to tell it through the eyes of a mortal woman, Judith, who lives in a flat in central London and works as an artist's model. This is where the story begins and where the reader - along with Judith - is gradually drawn in.

    Jane's writing at its best is powerfully visual, at its worst overwritten with strings of adjectives and adverbs and long, repetitive sentences. At times it does feel juvenile - especially where a love story thread is involved. The middle of the book is long, with far too much description and not enough action (though there is a certain cumulative impact, all the same.) But the beginning is well-written and well-paced - and the last few chapters have extraordinary power, with a finale that is impossible to guess.

    Although Jane Gaskell went on to write a series of fantasy novels, she seems to have stopped writing novels after about 1977. According to sources on the internet, she has also worked as a journalist, a screenwriter and a professional astrologer.

    Strange Evil and Jane Gaskell's other books are available on the internet - some with gorgeous covers!


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Warrior King by Sue Purkiss. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

     Warrior King tells the story of King Alfred from when he was a child - the youngest of five brothers and therefore never expected to reign - to when he was a fugitive king, driven into hiding on the Isle of Athelney in the Somerset Levels. From there he gathered his army, beat back the Danes, and eventually set up the Danelaw - establishing the eastern side of the country as Danish territory and concluding a wary peace. He even began to envisage a time when England might become one country.

     The story is written in a clear, accessible style, using third person and moving freely between quite a large cast of characters. Most prominent of these are Alfred himself and Fleda, his daughter - a brave and intelligent girl who will appeal to young readers. There are also the voices and thoughts of various loyal followers, some courageous church leaders, and even the leader of the Danes, the dreaded Guthrum himself, so that we see his vulnerable side too.

     One person whose thoughts are unspoken is Cerys, a British wise woman with an extraordinary insight into people's hearts and minds. She is a powerful influence on Alfred, and brings a touch of believable not-quite-magic that fits well with the legend and the times.

     Warrior King draws together what, for me, were half-remembered fragments of Alfred's story, and weaves them into a coherent whole. Alfred was perhaps our greatest king, and yet we don't hear much about him now. His true story is inspiring, and Sue Purkiss has re-imagined it in a tale that keeps up its momentum throughout and builds to an exciting climax. She knows Somerset well, and her descriptions of the landscape through which her characters move add much to the appeal of this book.


Published by Roundhouse Books, 2015.  p/b and e-book.



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STILL FALLING by Sheena Wilkinson. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

"The rain was still falling, but the darkness had parted..."  This quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby illustrates the themes of Sheena Wilkinson's moving story of teenage love.

Troubled Luke has been in care for several years. He moves to Esther's school - a challenge for him, as standards are much higher there and he struggles to keep up. Luke is insecure and suffers from epilepsy. Esther feels like a misfit among the girls at school. But when Luke has a fit on his first day, she is the one who knows how to help him.

Esther and Luke instantly connect, and Esther falls in love. But Luke has secrets in his past that threaten their relationship, and she can't understand what it is that troubles him, and blames herself. Both young people have a fragile self-image. Can they overcome their troubles and find a way through to love?

Sheena Wilkinson's writing has a beautiful clarity and freshness, the dialogue is convincing, and the main characters have such a strong emotional presence that it's impossible for the reader not to connect with them and care deeply about what happens to them. The adults - in particular Esther's parents and the couple who become Luke's new carers - are interesting, rounded characters in their own right. The story is perfectly paced and revealed. You won't want to put it down.

Published in 2015 by Little Island Books.  ISBN: 978-1-908195-92-0


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THE CURIOUS TALE OF THE LADY CARABOO by Catherine Johnson. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull

"Doesn't she understand her lot?" wonders young Fred Worrall, when faced with a frightened and reluctant young prostitute - before daydreaming about his own 'lot': travel, university, work as a banker - everything that's been planned for him by family and social class.

This extraordinary story of love, mystery and self-deception is based on true events. It's set in 1819 and tells how Mary Willcox, a cobbler's daughter from Devon, managed to pass herself off as a princess from the Far East, fooling not only the wealthy family who took her in, but various 'experts' who examined her.

The story begins with a brutal scene in which 17 year old Mary, alone and exhausted on the road, is raped by two men. She was on her way home to Devon from London - where the man she loved had deserted her and where her newborn baby had died. After this attack, at her lowest ebb, Mary longs to become someone else. She reinvents herself as the Princess Caraboo, speaking no English, wearing a turban, and looking everyone boldly in the eye in a way that downtrodden Mary never could. She is found and brought to Knole House, home of the Worrall family, and immediately wins over Mrs Worrall, who is an amateur student of anthropology. But not everyone is convinced by Caraboo, and before long Mary finds herself wanting to escape but caught up in a net of her own making.

The story is seen from the viewpoints of several young people: Mary herself; Cassandra, the daughter of the house; Cassandra's brother Fred; and Will, the son of the local innkeeper, who falls for the self-centred Cassandra. Young Fred Worrall is in some ways the most interesting of these characters, as he changes from playboy to someone who sees women as human beings, and in so doing frees himself.

Through these various viewpoints we see love in its pure and corrupt forms, the way society treats women, and in particular the degrading lives of poor women - but all conveyed with the lightest touch in a story that sparkles with vitality.


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