Congratulations Lesley on another fantastic book. I look forward to seeing what direction your future books take and hopefully I get to review these for you before release too. Natty is absolutely raging and she is furious with her Mam she has to leave everything she knows behind and she is quite awful to her Mam. Although in these times I think I would have been the same. But then he finds a skull hidden in a tree, and suddenly the valley is more frightening than the war. Who can Jimmy trust? His brother is too little; his best friend has changed.

Natty was so hurt by his pain that she was so eager and determined to make him feel better, to make him fell less of the ache that was from his haunting memories. For memories are something we cannot escape no matter how hard we try; but, for Johnny, another young soldier that Natty befriends, it's all he could ever hope again. 😟😟 cw: some references to deaths at Passchendale, not graphic descriptions, but does include a haunting passage about soldiers listening to coffins being built, physical abuse of children by adults at school, child poverty and a scene of a boy eating from the trash I enjoyed this historical novel for tweens immensely! A mum standing up for women’s and worker’s rights is not a character trait I’ve seen before in a tween novel, and it also helps mould the plot and the growth of the main character. The excitable and always positive Nerys keeps everyone on their toes, with her brother Huw adding a sobering thread. I read this book on Anzac Day after watching the film Dunkirk and so I still had the terror those young men faced in my mind. The novel is written in the first person from the point of view of twelve year old Natty. The reader gets inside her head as her thoughts become our thoughts.The sights the soldiers saw are never really described; When the War Came Home is all about the aftermath. The story also evokes a feeling of what is was like to live in the Welsh villages between the wars. The poverty of some families and the difficulties ordinary people faced have echoes in today. I had a proof copy so I cannot say what the illustrations by David Dean were like; the front cover completely captures the book with the poppies for remembrance. Reading the book, the same week as Remembrance Sunday, was a powerful reminder of past wars. Finding an ally in someone he never expects, they set out together to uncover the secrets that lie with the skull. What they discover will change Jimmy – and the village – forever. The First World War has ended, but it hasn't gone away. When Natty has to move to a new village, she meets two young soldiers who are still battling the effects of war. Huw can't forget the terrible things he's seen, but Johnny doesn't even remember who he is.

We also face a quite volatile relationship at times between Natty and her cousin Nerys as they share a room and a class which initially seems too much especially as Natty had decided beforehand that they wouldn’t get on. Although when they come together they do actually join forces well and this is written well and is very very believable.

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Cousin Nerys, a bright, self-confident, socially-challenged girl Natty's age, is inspired to begin a strike for the counsel to provide a midday meal like they did at Natty's former school. (Their headmaster hits children with rulers, a problem not solved here, but they do succeed in getting food for the children, some of whom are going hungry enough to make concentration difficult.) When the war came home is a good book and for once it doesn’t show the more powerful people the heroes and villains of war instead Lesley Parr decides to show the poverty that came after WW1. As Natty tries to keep a secret and unravel a mystery, she finds her own way to fight for what she believes in - and learns that some things should never be forgotten ... This mesmerising historical mystery includes an interactive clue so readers can unravel the mystery alongside the characters. About This Edition ISBN: