Skylarks' War

July 1, 2018
Steadfast love and friendship stand proof against the changes and challenges of war for a group of Edwardian-era children.The effects of the Great War still resonate, at least for British novelists, and here McKay adds to the crowded shelves with a tale featuring an ensemble cast of siblings, relatives, and school friends (many previously met through flashbacks in Binny in Secret, 2015) growing up in Plymouth and summering in Cornwall before, during, and (for survivors) after. At the center of the cast is Clarissa "Clarry" Penrose, ignored by her widowed father, raised by housekeepers along with her fretful, saturnine older brother, Peter, but gifted with both a bright intellect and a happy, affectionate disposition. Both serve her in good stead through expanding self-expectations as a girl and then woman while others, notably dashing yet "recklessly kind" older cousin Rupert, enter the story and then go off to war. The author shifts among multiple points of view to explore developing relationships from different angles and to relate incidents along the curved front's "monstrous smile" in a frank but dispassionate way that leaves readers free to respond as they will. She carries the story several years beyond the war's end to show happy endings for nearly everyone and, for Clarry, a surprise reunion guaranteed to leave nary a dry eye in the house. As McKay fans can rightly expect, each character (all are white) displays an individually distinct mix of temperament, outlook, abilities, and foibles, but all, even the minor ones, are fundamentally decent and--though sometimes with some effort--lovable. Winning as ever, with an overall Little Princess feel reminiscent of McKay's own sequel to that classic, Wishing for Tomorrow (2010). (Historical fiction. 11-13)

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November 5, 2018
Deftly interweaving humor and heart, McKay crafts an intricate novel exploring the overlapping realms of family, friendship, and romantic love in early-20th-century England. Since clever Clarry’s mother died soon after she was born, Clarry and her disgruntled older brother, Peter, have lived with their aloof, dour father, who believes that girls don’t deserve education and criticizes Peter for sharing his books with his sister. Sent to boarding school against his will, Peter befriends Simon, a sensitive loner who likewise struggles to discover where he belongs. As she did in her books starring the eccentric Casson family and irrepressible Binny, the author introduces credible, memorable characters whom readers will readily embrace. The novel’s most dazzling personalities, though, belong to Simon’s impulsive and big-hearted sister, Vanessa, who nurses injured soldiers after WWI breaks out, and Clarry and Peter’s charismatic cousin, Rupert, who ships out to France with the British army and is wounded at the front. The characters’ intricate relationships and deep bonds give unusual emotional ballast to the story, which provides a poignant portrait of an era and a war “where absolutely nothing made sense” and of teens catapulted prematurely into adulthood. Ages 10–14.