Love To Everyone

Books set in war times

I was delighted to hear from a reader that my WWII book recommendation, A Whale in Paris by Daniel Presley and Claire Polders matched a grandchild’s Christmas book request!

Today’s book recommendation is a rendering of World War I. While A Whale in Paris carried an element of whimsy and whale charisma to soften war’s harsh edges, this one does not.

Love to Everyone, by Hilary McKay

… is a coming of age story set in England in the early twentieth century. Clarry Penrose is a lonely girl whose father would prefer not to be a father. He thinks she has no need of education—after all, she is expected to simply grow up and get married. Fortunately for her, her older brother Peter recognizes her intelligence and makes her study with him.

Clarry idolizes Peter and her cousin, Rupert. Their summers spent together with her grandparents in Cornwall are the best days of her life. But those days are fleeting, and a war is coming—a war that will take so many young men’s lives.

Why you’ll want to read it:

The profound strength of this story is in the character development, and the weaving of relationships. In order to walk a reader through such a dark time, the reader first must be made to care—a great deal.

We meet the protagonists as children, and witness them growing and changing—their impulsive acts, their yearning, their sorrows, their hopes. We are made to care—deeply.

The story also paints the details of its time: life as it was—at home, at school, as a soldier, as the one waiting at home for word. All the ordinary details make it come alive. Emotions fill the scenes, and we, as readers, are riveted.

Read aloud:

Reading this story aloud is a way of acknowledging and experiencing the depth and breadth of life—its preciousness, the moments we wish we could live differently. The author is unafraid of difficult subjects: negligence, bullying, being different, loving where one “ought not,” and of course, war, violence and dying.

The book offers bonding over life and death.

Knowing you’ll need Kleenex and space to grieve, I heartily recommend Love to Everyone by Hilary McKay. Click here to access book on Amazon.

Perhaps not “Happy Reading,”
but definitely “Worthwhile Reading!”