The quiet farming community may seem almost untouched by war compared to the cities, but that's clearly not the case, as Tommy awaits news of his missing father. Part of Sally's appeal as a character is her dialogue - a young Liverpudlian, Tulloch captures her immense energy for life and fierce integrity through her dialogue, rich with her northern accent.

The cruelty she suffers at the hands of Mr Scarcross and her impoverished background is offset against her character’s resilience and humour. Apart from the gripping plot, one of the best things about this book is its sense of time and place - it makes a real effort to capture the language, traditions and rhythms of a lakeside farm during the Second World War. It transported me back to the thrill of childhood reading and childhood adventures (although none of mine were anything like so exciting! There is a neatness to the ending, but I think it can be forgiven – this is a children’s novel after all.The story is gently spiced with natural history to give a sense of space and surroundings, a backdrop to the dramatic events that take place amongst the characters. For reasons of their own, they are determined to keep the news secret but, for all Tommy's local knowledge and all Sally's resourcefulness, can this be possible? Tommy and his evacuee friend Sally find an injured German airman close to their home in the Lake District. What’s more, it seems the airman is injured and needs more than Sally’s stolen food and first aid kit.

There is an innocence to the children’s attitude to the wounded airman and the accompanying press release for the book mentions the suitability for fans of Whistle Down the Wind and I can well understand why.This results in a chain of events that expose the children to danger and uncover secrets about Sally’s past. It seems Mr Scarcross has little time for his evacuee, and nor does Miss Gently or others in the community. Tommy’s learned some of her Geordie speech patterns, enough to know that the German gadgie she’s discovered in the woods is the airman who’s parachuted out of the plane crashed in Woundale woods.

As well as being an important story, Cuckoo Summer is an ideal landscape for me; it’s a farm, it’s a community and it’s full of meadows and fells. When the two friends find an injured German airman in the woods, they face a dilemma about what to do next.It is so nice, having read a pile of books for the library recently, to find something that has been crafted and cared for. Author of eight novels, including The Season Ticket, Give Us This Day and Mr McCool, Jonathan's work has been filmed, staged and Radio 4 serialised. The place is almost a character in its own right, with an immersive understanding of farming at that time. You guys were so fab and Dawn was such a lovely presence in the schools - I will absolutely be in touch next time I'm in your neck of the woods.