It's 1945. World War II has just ended and twelve-year-old Rusty comes back home to Britain after being evacuated to the US. The greyness and bleakness of life in England is a shock, but even worse is adapting to the strict discipline of her family, including a brother she's never met, after the warmth and openness of her adopted American family. Rusty is sent to a horrific boarding school, before finally running away as her search for happiness becomes more and more desperate.
Michelle Magorian is undoubtedly one of the pre-eminent children’s writers of historical family drama and of books set around the Second World War. She may not be a household name but that’s purely because she doesn’t write as frequently as those more obvious bestselling novelists. Just Henry is her seventh novel. Unlike some authors Magorian writes when the time is right having first undertaken considerable research, followed by a lot of thinking time before actually putting pen to paper and then there’s always the very important rewrites to polish the story. Magorian loves the research and the writing in equal measure but particularly loves writing dialogue.
Interestingly, Magorian’s first love when she was younger was to be an actress but she also loved writing and day dreaming – the perfect combination for a successful novelist. Here at Lovereading4kids we urge parents and children to try out the wonderful writing, experience the roller-coaster of emotions you’ll get from reading a Michelle Magorian novel. We’re confident you’ll be swept up into a time and place that should never be forgotten.
Click here to read a Q&A with the author from top children's publisher Egmont.
