LoveReading4Kids Says
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.
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Back Home Synopsis
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 an horrific boarding school, before finally running away as her search for happiness becomes more and more desperate.
Michelle’s books, including her first book, Goodnight Mister Tom, are often set around the time of the Second World War. While doing research for the novel that became Goodnight Mister Tom she came across a photograph of some children coming back from America in 1945. This image kept popping into her head. It was as if the children were saying, ‘You’re going to have to write about one of us, otherwise we’re not going to leave you alone.’ So Michelle started interviewing people, and reading about how people coped after the war, particularly families living together again after years apart. Back Home, which took Michelle two years to write, begins just after the end of the war, when Rusty returns home from her evacuation in America.
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About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780141354811 |
| Publication date: |
3rd July 2014 |
| Author: |
Michelle Magorian |
| Publisher: |
Puffin Books an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
480 pages |
| Series: |
A Puffin Book |
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About Michelle Magorian
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.
More About Michelle Magorian
