Natty’s mum won’t stop sticking up for people. It sounds like a great thing to do, but Natty wishes she would just stop! Sure, Mum was supporting Women’s rights and the Suffragette movement, but then they had to move because of it. Then she upset the boss at work, talking about worker’s rights, and now she’s got the sack.

Natty really likes their lovely flat in their little town, but Mum’s principles have upset their life again, and they will have to move. Why can’t Mum look after them first, instead of everyone else? There is nothing for it and they are soon on the bus to another little town in Wales, where her uncle and aunt have offered them somewhere to stay as long as they like. Natty can vaguely remember her cousins, and now they will be living on a “smallholding” with chickens and pigs!

Natty quickly learns she is to share a room and a bed with her never-stops-talking cousin Nerys. Nerys is the apple of the family eye, working towards a scholarship to extend her education. Soon they are friends as well as cousins, and Natty begins to settle into her new life. Nerys’ brother Huw is also in the house after returning from the Great War. He’s the opposite of his bouncy little sister, the First World War’s horrors imprinted on his thoughts. He’s quiet and moody and trying to put it all behind him. Natty meets other recovering soldiers in the local hospital, and one in particular becomes her own crusade. ‘Johnny’ can’t remember who he is, and Natty is determined to help.

Nerys, her best friend Owen and Natty soon have something much bigger and closer to their hearts (and stomachs) to contend with. Natty slowly begins to understand how her Mum sees the world – where she sees a wrong, she tries to put it right.

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.

Huw was just fourteen when he decided to lie about his age and sign up for a soldier’s uniform and an adventure, and the result is disastrous. Although I knew of this happening (in probably most wars) I haven’t come across a character so young who has lived through it, to show a reader the results.

The more I read, the more intrigued I became until something miraculous clicked! I had to read faster to learn if it was true.

Emma Carroll fans will love this as much as I did.

Author – Lesley Parr

Age – 10+

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(2022, Bloomsbury, Animals, Blended Family, Courage, Family, Friendship, Growing up, Historical, Humour, Love, Mystery, Poverty, School, War, Dog, Strike, Hunger, Corporal Punishment, Best Mates, Loss, Army Hospital, Memory, Memories, Nursing)