Paul Schaffner

Thoroughly delightful, curiously old-fashioned, 24 April 2003

Among Hilary McKay's other books, Saffy's Angel reminds one most of the Exiles series, though it is intended for somewhat older readers. It is full of instantly memorable, independent, and slightly eccentric characters comprising a tightly knit 'artistic' family of distinctive character and personality--think of Helen Cresswell's Bagthorpes, E. Nesbit's Bastables, or any of Noel Streatfeild's families. The setting is contemporary but the atmosphere curiously old-fashioned, especially in the book's confidence that Saffy, the adopted child, will always belong. The book is by turns moving and outrageously funny; the writing is superb enough to reward many rereadings.