Whistling in the Dark
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Liverpool, 1940: Thirteen-year-old Joan's home is under constant threat from the Nazi's terrifying nightly air raids. Everyone is on edge, faced with strict food rationing, curfews, and blackouts. It’s not an easy time to be a teenager. Joan’s one solace is going to the movies with her best friend, the unflappable Doreen, but when the bombings intensify, even that becomes too dangerous. There’s also the matter of a strange man who Joan sees lurking near their home; Who is he, and why does he think Joan can help him? Even more unsettling, as the Blitz worsens, Joan and her friends make a discovery down by the old mill that will tear the whole community apart. In the hardship of war, everything seems to be rationed — except true friendship.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The "heart-sinking" wail of air-raid sirens, sparse food rations, and the agonizing separation from loved ones permeate this poignant story set in suburban Liverpool during the winter of 1940 1941, when the city was bombarded by Hitler's Luftwaffe. In a preface, Hughes (Hero on a Bicycle) notes that she lived in the same area at the time as a teenager, so "it was very easy for me to imagine" the life of her heroine, 13-year-old Joan Armitage. She makes it easy for readers to do the same. An insightful observer, Joan empathizes with her lonely older sister, whose beau is serving in the Merchant Navy, and her stoic mother, who is still mourning her husband's death at sea years earlier. In a subplot, Joan befriends Ania, a Polish refugee who is scorned by many, and protects the girl's uncle, who deserts the army to find Ania. Amid the turmoil, Joan finds solace in creating art and her steadfast bond with Ania. Avoiding sensationalism, sentimentality, or predictability, Hughes shapes a real and raw novel helmed by a wise and gutsy protagonist. Ages 10 up.
