The very best stories resonate in your mind and interact with your life long after the story has ended. This story follows three generations of a British working class family from WWI to the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is an excellent portrait of a family trying to find its way...through wars inside the family...and outside. The focal point of these three generations is upwardly mobile Clem...struggling with school, love, and war. The writing is so searingly honest I could feel myself gasping in recognition. This paragraph gives you some sense of the character of Ruth, the mother of Clem...trying to make sense of her mother Win's past...
Sentimentality and nostalgia are closely related. Kissing cous-
ins. I have no time for nostalgia, though. Nostalgics believe that
the past is nicer than the present. It isn't. Or wasn't. Nostalgics
want to cuddle the past like a puppy. But the past has bloody
teeth and bad breath. I look into its mouth like a sorrowing
dentist. (page 26)
Mal Peet weaves pieces of generations together...with insight into the human condition. Ages 12+. This is one of those special books for all ages...personal yet universal...where the power of stories will continue exploding into your life.
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