How I Live Now

July 5, 2004
This riveting first novel paints a frighteningly realistic picture of a world war breaking out in the 21st century. Told from the point of view of 15-year-old Manhattan native Daisy, the novel follows her arrival and her stay with cousins on a remote farm in England. Soon after Daisy settles into their farmhouse, her Aunt Penn becomes stranded in Oslo and terrorists invade and occupy England.
Daisy's candid, intelligent narrative draws readers into her very private world, which appears almost utopian at first with no adult supervision (especially by contrast with her home life with her widowed father and his new wife). The heroine finds herself falling in love with cousin Edmond, and the author credibly creates a world in which social taboos are temporarily erased. When soldiers usurp the farm, they send the girls off separately from the boys, and Daisy becomes determined to keep herself and her youngest cousin, Piper, alive. Like the ripple effects of paranoia and panic in society, the changes within Daisy do not occur all at once, but they have dramatic effects. In the span of a few months, she goes from a self-centered, disgruntled teen to a courageous survivor motivated by love and compassion.
How she comes to understand the effects the war has had on others provides the greatest evidence of her growth, as well as her motivation to get through to those who seem lost to war's consequences. Teens may feel that they have experienced a war themselves as they vicariously witness Daisy's worst nightmares. Like the heroine, readers will emerge from the rubble much shaken, a little wiser and with perhaps a greater sense of humanity. Ages 12-up.

This is a mesmerizing production of a much-discussed young adult novel. Set in the very near future, the story involves unhappy, anorexic 15-year-old Daisy as she arrives in England to visit her cousins. As soon as she arrives, her aunt must depart for a short trip, leaving Daisy and her three cousins alone in their rural farmhouse. Very soon thereafter, an unnamed aggressor invades England. Kim Mai Guest seems to channel teenaged Daisy while making her actually listenable. She also excels with very young cousin Piper without resorting to a high-pitched little kid voice. For that matter, her rural British men are quite believable. Her pacing is particularly lovely, and while the book has received some criticism for its unique punctuation, it's never a problem in Guest's reading. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine