The Costa Children's Book Award winning evocative and heartbreaking novel of family and friendship in wartime.
WINNER OF THE COSTA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD 2018Clarry and her older brother Peter live for their summers in Cornwall, staying with their grandparents and running free with their charismatic cousin, Rupert. But normal life resumes each September - boarding school for Peter and Rupert, and a boring life for Clarry at home with her absent father, as the shadow of a terrible war looms ever closer.When Rupert goes off to fight at the front, Clarry feels their skylark summers are finally slipping away from them. Can their family survive this fearful war?The Skylarks' War is a beautiful story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the harsh backdrop of World War 1, from the award-winning Hilary McKay.
“Hilary McKay's novel is about love as much as war: the effect on children of being deprived of it and the beneficial results on adults of its persistence. McKay is incapable of writing an uninteresting character or a dull scene... I loved it.”
McKay is at her best in this poignant family drama. The Guardian
Picking up a book by Hilary McKay is like slipping on bed socks on a chilly night. She knows how to look after her readers by ensuring that her characters are interesting and loveable from the start . . . McKay’s cleverness is that she makes it all fresh and new while making these beautifully drawn characters feel like old friends. The Times, Children’s Book of the Week
This belongs among the classic of children’s literature . . . Funny, sad, warm, it is about growing up and finding what you love, intellectually and emotionally. The Sunday Times, Children’s Book of the Week
This book is agony and ecstasy, and never have I read such a human and accessible account of World War I. Vivid, hilarious, and heartbreaking, Hilary McKay’s radiant characters touch my heart like real people, friends and loved ones I know well. Possibly the finest writer of our time. -- Elizabeth Wein, New York Times-bestselling author of Code Name Verity and The Pearl Thief
This is McKay at her finest, all the heart and warmth of the Casson family books - with a touch of the Cazalets. It's both a thrilling family adventure and a truthful, heart-breaking examination of the impact of war... [an] exceptional historical novel. -- Fiona Noble Bookseller, Children's Book of the Month
Hilary McKay is surely the heir to Mary Wesley. The Skylarks' War is just lovely. -- Charlotte Eyre, The Bookseller
The Skylarks' War is bloody brilliant, the kind of classic that rings with beauty and conviction and heart-stopping emotion. Not read a novel this good since Eva Ibbotson died. -- Amanda Craig
Hilary McKay is one of the great writers of children’s fiction and this story of love and loss during the First World War is one of her best, told with unflinching wisdom. -- Sarah Hughes Independent, Best Children's Books for Autumn 2018
Hilary McKay is a genius. This beautiful book is so many things simultaneously: complex and subtle, beautiful and raw, timely and timeless. I never wanted it to end. -- Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, Carnegie-shortlisted author of The Smell of Other People's Houses
One of my favourite books of the year, this is McKay at her absolute finest. -- Fiona Noble Bookseller Children's Buyer Guide, Highlights of the Season
I laughed, I cried and I wanted all the characters to be my best friend Natasha Farrant
Winning as ever, with an overall Secret Garden feel Kirkus Reviews
What a brilliant book. I laughed, I blubbed. The painful jolt of the Great War to one family carefully told. Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust
I thoroughly loved The Skylarks' War. The story is at once intimate and sweeping, with Clarry the shining heart of it all. -- Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, author of The War That Saved My Life
Hilary McKay’s novel is about love as much as war: the effect on children of being deprived of it and the beneficial results on adults of its persistence. McKay is incapable of writing an uninteresting character or a dull scene... I loved it. Mary Hoffman
...a family book, like those of Noel Streatfeild or R F Delderfield… I find it hard to imagine anyone not enjoying it. You will smile, and you will cry… You will recognise yourself and your friends -- Adele Geras
McKay couples warmth and grace with wry humour like nobody else out there -- Katherine Rundell The Guardian
wise and kind and utterly heart-wrenching and full of characters you will give your whole heart to -- Anna James
McKay is a superb writer, deftly spinning history into a family drama of emotional neglect, shameful secrets, unrequited love, loss and ultimate triumph over all of these in a funny, moving and emotionally insightful book that could, and should, be read by all ages. -- Sally Morris Daily Mail
Quite simply, The Skylarks’ War is close to perfect. Wise, kind, witty and incredibly moving it will break your heart and remake it again a few times over. Scoop magazine
The Skylarks’ War by Hilary McKay rivals Testament of Youth for delicacy and heart-wringing clarity in its portrayal of the home front during the First World War. Independent
a funny, moving and emotionally insightful book that could, and should, be read by all ages Daily Mail
A moving family story. The Week Junior
The best children’s book I’ve read this year’ Katherine Rundell
Hilary McKay has a rare gift for novels about families and their interplay. Here, she weaves her story round one of the most powerful backdrops in history. And she does so with the lightest of touch which makes her history come alive. LoveReading4Kids.co.uk – November Book of the Month
That the reader knows what the future holds makes the story all the more heartrending. Funny, moving and emotionally insightful, it should be read by everyone The Daily Mail - In a Feature titled ‘Go wild for these children's books! From Winnie The Pooh to The Gruffalo, there's a story to keep even the pickiest child entertained during the lockdown…’
Her characters and well rounded, fascinating, and loveable and her storytelling always beautifully paced Good Housekeeping - Top 50 Books Every Child Should Read
Hilary McKay is an award-winning author, having won the Guardian Fiction Prize for her first novel, The Exiles, and going on to win the Smarties and the Whitbread (now the Costa) Award for The Exiles in Love and Saffy's Angel. Hilary McKay's Fairy Tales was her first book with Macmillan Children's Books and is a critically acclaimed classic-in-the-making. Her 2018 title The Skylarks' War marks the centenary of the end of the First World War.
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