- Hardcover: 186 pages
- Publisher: Puffin Books; First Edition edition (5 Aug 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0141380756
- ISBN-13: 978-0141380759
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.6 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (101 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 243,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Possibly one of the most talked about books of the year, Meg Rosoff’s novel for young adults is the winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2004. Heralded by some as the next best adult crossover novel since Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, who himself has given the book a thunderously good quote, this author’s debut is undoubtedly stylish, readable and fascinating.
Rosoff’s story begins in modern day London, slightly in the future, and as its heroine has a 15-year-old Manhattanite called Daisy. She’s picked up at the airport by Edmond, her English cousin, a boy in whose life she is destined to become intricately entwined. Daisy is staying for the summer in her Aunt Penn’s country farmhouse with Edmond and her other cousins. They spend some idyllic weeks together--often alone with Aunt Penn away travelling in Norway. Daisy’s cousins seem to have an almost telepathic bond, and Daisy is mesmerised by Edmond and soon falls in love with him.
But their world changes forever when an unnamed aggressor invades England and begins a years-long occupation. Daisy is parted from Edmond when soldiers take over their home, and Daisy and Piper, her younger cousin, must travel to another place to work. Their experiences of occupation are never kind and always hard. Daisy’s pain, living without Edmond, is tangible.
Rosoff’s writing style is both brilliant and frustrating. Her descriptions and ability to portray the emotions of her characters are wonderful. Her long sentences and total lack of speech marks for dialogue is, however, exhausting. Her narrative is deeply engaging and yet a bit unbelievable. The end of the book is dramatic, but too sudden. The book has a raw, unfinished feel about it, yet that somehow adds to the experience of reading it. It’s flawed but unmissable. (Age 14 and over) --John McLay
Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
a magical and utterly faultless voice
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
My name is Elizabeth but no one's ever called me that. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
My name is Elizabeth but no one's ever called me that. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thought this was an interesting book on a number of levels, but unfortunately, it will remain for me a bit of a curiosity rather than the very good book it could have been.
Other reviews have outlined the plot, so I won't go over it again, as to be honest, the plot was the least engaging part of the book for me. So many things didn't ring true, starting from Edmond being able to park a ratty old jeep right outside the main terminal at Heathrow, and England seemed to veer from a 1950s Famous Five style rural idyll to a hellish place in the aftermath of an invasion by unknown aggressors.
So this all got me thinking - Daisy (whose real name was Elizabeth) leaves New York suffering from an eating disorder and delusions about her step mother. So - is she actually a reliable narrator? Are these events real, or in her head? Is Daisy "acting out" the battles and invasions she is perceiving in real life by creating some kind of narrative set in a world the other side of the ocean?
If it is a genuine post apocalyptic or horrors of war story, there are better. Peter Dickinson's Heartsease trilogy is a favourite.
I would have liked this as a teen, but as an adult, I'm perhaps more aware of the flaws.
Other reviews have outlined the plot, so I won't go over it again, as to be honest, the plot was the least engaging part of the book for me. So many things didn't ring true, starting from Edmond being able to park a ratty old jeep right outside the main terminal at Heathrow, and England seemed to veer from a 1950s Famous Five style rural idyll to a hellish place in the aftermath of an invasion by unknown aggressors.
So this all got me thinking - Daisy (whose real name was Elizabeth) leaves New York suffering from an eating disorder and delusions about her step mother. So - is she actually a reliable narrator? Are these events real, or in her head? Is Daisy "acting out" the battles and invasions she is perceiving in real life by creating some kind of narrative set in a world the other side of the ocean?
If it is a genuine post apocalyptic or horrors of war story, there are better. Peter Dickinson's Heartsease trilogy is a favourite.
I would have liked this as a teen, but as an adult, I'm perhaps more aware of the flaws.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This has got to be one of the most moving books that I have ever read.
We start the story ina an airport. Daisy has got of the plane and she has a mobile phone. But there's a war on. We all know that in WW1 and WW2, they didn't have mobiles. It makes you think, "Hang on. What's going on here' Therefore, you go on to presume that this must be WW3, the war that hasn't happened, and, from this account, hopefully won't happen!
Daisy is American and 15 years old. She has left America and has gone to stay with her cousins who she has never met. She forms a special bond with them. She loves it. Then her Auntie goes away, leaving just the cousins. She can't get back because of the war and the cousins are separated and forced to look after themselves. This book is EXTREMELY moving. I have never heard a bad review of this book.
We start the story ina an airport. Daisy has got of the plane and she has a mobile phone. But there's a war on. We all know that in WW1 and WW2, they didn't have mobiles. It makes you think, "Hang on. What's going on here' Therefore, you go on to presume that this must be WW3, the war that hasn't happened, and, from this account, hopefully won't happen!
Daisy is American and 15 years old. She has left America and has gone to stay with her cousins who she has never met. She forms a special bond with them. She loves it. Then her Auntie goes away, leaving just the cousins. She can't get back because of the war and the cousins are separated and forced to look after themselves. This book is EXTREMELY moving. I have never heard a bad review of this book.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I loved this book, and I am extremly hard to please.
It was bought for me by a friend who happened to pick it up in a bookshop, read the first few lines and leg it to the tills, fast. He's now taken to buying it for everyone he
knows who likes books and I think that I will do the same.
From the second I picked it up, I was completly inthralled,I read it from cover to cover in one sitting without moving. Meg Rosoff's prose is staggeringly beautiful, moving and evocative, her characters instantly exsist in your mind and on every page you will find a sentance that makes you stop reading and just stare.
I'm glad though, that I hadn't read the synopsis here, anyone who has read it will understand my huge shock as the situation the characters find themselfs
in becomes clear. I never knew where this book was going for one second. At one point it is a dreamy, languid love story, at another a moving tale of family understanding and devotion, another, the story of teenage emotion and confusion, then it becomes a genuinly terrifying battle against an unnamed enemy, then a shocking, visceral tale of violence. I can't quite see how this is a book
just for young adults, allthough the main protagonist is a teenagerthe themes are relevent to all ages. This is a fabulous book, and most people I know have read it all in one or two sittings.
Please read it, you won't regret it.
On, another note, the hardback edition is very lovely and worth
the extra quids if you like that sort of thing.
It was bought for me by a friend who happened to pick it up in a bookshop, read the first few lines and leg it to the tills, fast. He's now taken to buying it for everyone he
knows who likes books and I think that I will do the same.
From the second I picked it up, I was completly inthralled,I read it from cover to cover in one sitting without moving. Meg Rosoff's prose is staggeringly beautiful, moving and evocative, her characters instantly exsist in your mind and on every page you will find a sentance that makes you stop reading and just stare.
I'm glad though, that I hadn't read the synopsis here, anyone who has read it will understand my huge shock as the situation the characters find themselfs
in becomes clear. I never knew where this book was going for one second. At one point it is a dreamy, languid love story, at another a moving tale of family understanding and devotion, another, the story of teenage emotion and confusion, then it becomes a genuinly terrifying battle against an unnamed enemy, then a shocking, visceral tale of violence. I can't quite see how this is a book
just for young adults, allthough the main protagonist is a teenagerthe themes are relevent to all ages. This is a fabulous book, and most people I know have read it all in one or two sittings.
Please read it, you won't regret it.
On, another note, the hardback edition is very lovely and worth
the extra quids if you like that sort of thing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Occupied England, as experienced by a young American
I loved the way this book was written. It was easy to be sucked into the lives of the main characters and the images of England under occupation were vivid and compelling. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Rio Carnival Girl
Badly written
This book (to me) is badly written and is very difficult to read without a red pen and a bottle of tippex close at hand. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Suzy
Bit of an odd one
Meg Rosoff was recommended to me as I'd enjoyed Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur.
This was an interesting book, but not as good as Suzanne LaFleur's. Read more
This was an interesting book, but not as good as Suzanne LaFleur's. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Pink Panther
Both beautiful and thought provoking
I picked up this novel on impulse at an airport to read on a transatlantic flight, and by the time we arrived in the USA I'd read it from cover to cover. Read more
Published 4 months ago by J. Staines
A coming of age story with a vibrant twist, old beyond it's years
There is no excuse for not reading this book as Penguin has published it under their Penguin Classic imprint so it was cheap. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Broxgirl
Philosophy of War
Just finished it. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! Love how it turned from Salingeresque to Orwellian. Also, the build up to the last sentence was superb. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Shaun Attwood
A gripping story
This is the view of T.Rees (aged 11). I thought this book was action-packed and exciting, as you follow Daisy through her incredible adventure. Read more
Published 8 months ago by EMLYN REES
Read it as a 13year old and just had a look again 5 years later
It never made any sense to me as a young teen and it doesn't now. It's an awkward blend of frankly dodgy romance (her 14 year old cousin- ehhh), a weird "World War 3" situation and... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jen
heartbreaking and so moving.....
i didnt know what to expect while reading the first few chapters of this book. the text seemed simple and there was little or no punctuation. Read more
Published 12 months ago by SodaPop69'
Highly evocative
Meg Rosoff's novel for young adults won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2004. The novel is very much a crossover novel - for young adults and adults alike. Read more
Published 15 months ago by YA's The Word
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