How I Live Now is a children’s book. It must be; after all: it won this year’s Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children’s Book Prize. But children do not judge these awards, and increasing numbers of adults have decided that Meg Rosoff’s debut novel is good enough for the grown-ups.
I agree, though I’m not sure why. This is classic children’s adventure fare. The English countryside is idyllic, all sunshine and, wildflowers and friendly cattle. The adults are distant, either too intellectual or important to have time for their offspring, or too dim to know what to do with them. And so the children are left to do as they please, eat as they please and love as they please.
But then war interrupts the berry picking. The good guys have left the country, and the bad guys sneak in while they are out. The story is compelling; it flows elegantly, gently. A child’s voice speaks, but there are sufficient traces of maturity and an understanding of what at times makes the world at times wicked.
This is a book that should be read in one gulp. It is short enough and is ideal fare for a read for the garden or park on a balmy day. As a rule, I think making the reader sob is a cruel short-cut for a writer. But this book left me in tears without me minding one bit. It is a treat.
Advertisement
ALYSON RUDD
Your comments on How I Live Now will be printed in The Times on Saturday, July 30
Buy How I Live Now from Books First for £7.99 plus 99p p&p. That’s a saving of over £2 off the RRP.
The paperback edition will be available from July 7.
Visit www.timesonline.co.uk/booksfirstbuy or call 0870 1608080
How to join
Advertisement
A new book will be added to the site every week, starting today. Six weeks after the book has been introduced, and you have had a chance to read it, and talk and argue about it online, we will print a range of your comments in the paper - the best of which will be rewarded with a £20 e-voucher to our bookshop, Books First. Each week, five other active book group members will also be picked at random to receive a £10 e-voucher each. Of course, you don’t have to read every book - unless you’re very keen and very quick! - but we hope you will want to keep up to date with the book group choices by checking the website and Saturday’s books pages in The Times.