Illustration: David Dean
Wonderfully told (again)
I greatly enjoyed Lesley Parr’s first book The Valley of Lost Secrets. This, her second, is even better and confirms my admiration for her as one of our finest new writers for children. Historical fiction for young readers has rarely been served better.
Here is a wonderful example of how, in the right hands, simple, clear writing and direct storytelling can communicate so much so powerfully. Set convincingly in our relatively recent past (just after the end of WWI) , the result of Lesley Parr’s second story is, remarkably, very much of our own time. This is a writer who knows that the most convincing evocations are conjured not by extended exposition or florid description but by telling details introduced casually into action and dialogue. The thoughts and hence the personality of protagonist Natty are vividly and poignantly portrayed here and the dialogue between the characters in this tale of small town Wales (particularly the flow of chat from cousin Nerys) is so cleverly and convincingly caught that I could frequently hear the lilt and inflections of their musical accent escaping from the printed page.
About then, for now
This story perfectly immerses children in a particular time and place in the past, gently but poignantly highlighting its differences, yet simultaneously opens the door on many relevances to our own times. Without ever being inappropriate for its young readers, the tale conveys some of the dire personal consequences of war more tellingly that almost anything I have read., perhaps particularly the debilitating effects of what is now known as PTSD, but was then called ‘shell shock’. There are also some important, resonant themes about the rights of women, of workers and indeed of children. The potential potency of strikes is, for example, tellingly explored in a way that also chimes with the recent protests initiated over climate change by Greta Thunberg. Interestingly invited too are comparisons between the education of children a hundred years ago and now.
All’s well that ends well
All of this is sensitively explored through the very personal, and involving, narrative of a totally credible young girl, whose personal thoughts, feelings and actions are what give windows into larger issues. She, as well as the world in which she lives, is dealing with change and needs courage and resilience, tempered with kindness and understanding, to adapt successfully. And if the concluding ‘Railway Children’ type positive resolution borders on sentimental, then I think this view of the brightness of love and hope emerging through the greys of a troubled world is absolutely the right one for this readership. Whatever disturbing paths a story has lead them along, children need to leave a book, as they will here, feeling warm and comforted.
