Perfectly poised between the realistic and fantastical, Bawden's celebrated story of World War II evacuees explores themes of loyalty, friendship and the supernatural with nuance, wit and poignant power.
One of the most loved and enduring wartime novels, Carrie's War is a modern classic. With a new foreword by Michael Morpurgo and illustrations by Alan Marks
'I did a dreadful thing, the worst thing of my life, when I was twelve and a half years old, and nothing can change it'
It is wartime and Carrie and her little brother Nick have been evacuated from their London home to the Welsh hills. In an unfamiliar place, among strangers, the children feel alone and find little comfort with the family they are billeted with: Mr Evans, a bullying shopkeeper and Auntie Lou, his kind but timid sister.
When Carrie and Nick visit Albert, another evacuee, they are welcomed into Hepzibah Green's warm kitchen. Hepzibah is rumoured to be a witch, but her cooking is delicious, her stories are enthralling and the children cannot keep away. With Albert, Hepzibah and Mister Johnny, they begin to settle into their new surroundings. But before long, their loyalties are tested: will they be persuaded to betray their new friends?
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9780349009162
Number of pages: 224
Weight: 220 g
Dimensions: 200 x 136 x 18 mm
A poignant and realistic picture of what the second world war was like for a child . . . Carrie's War captures the true reality of war for a child, and it doesn't sentimentalise war - Shirley Hughes, Guardian
A very touching, utterly convincing book about three wartime evacuees billeted to Wales. It's very much a children's story, with a mystery to be solved, but Nina Bawden is very subtle with her characterisation - even hateful Mr Evans with his cruel bullying is seen as sadly pathetic too. Carrie and her little brother Nick are a delight, but my favourite character is their friend Albert Sandwich. He might sport steel spectacles and have a few spots on his chin, but he's one of the most charming boys in all children's fiction
Delicately done, full of accurate and unsentimental understanding - Sunday Telegraph
Perhaps the best of Nina Bawden's excellent novels - Sunday Times
Always an important book, but even more so now with the refugee and asylum seeker crisis that brings the book new relevance - Michael Morpurgo, Sunday Times
What a deep, dark, deceptively simple, brilliant novel it is - Emma Carroll
Carrie’s War is a medium length book by Nina Bawden, about World War Two. It is reasonably priced and has small illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. The book is intended for readers aged 9-12. The story is... More
Carrie’s War, by Nina Bawden, is a children’s book about the Second World War. The book is aimed at boys and girls between the ages of 7-12.
The book takes place in the war in a Welsh mining village. It belongs to...
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When the Second World War hits London, Carrie and her little brother, Nick, are sent to the countryside in Wales. She ends up living with Councillor Samuel Isaac Evans, who owns a grocery shop in the village, and his... More
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