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First published in Great Britain by Methuen Children’s Books Ltd in 1990
This edition published by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2016
Copyright © 1990 The Estate of Robert Westall
Why You’ll Love This Book copyright © Sophie McKenzie 2009
Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers 2016
Cover illustration © Tom Clohosy Cole 2016
Robert Westall asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
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Source ISBN: 9780007301416
Ebook Edition © 2016 ISBN: 9780007378197
Version: 2016-07-25
For Miriam, who understood
Contents
Copyright
Why You’ll Love This Book by Sophie McKenzie
Author’s Note
More Than a Story
About the Author
About the Publisher
Why You’ll Love This Book by Sophie McKenzie
What an amazing book! I mean, what an amazing book!
I love The Kingdom by the Sea for lots of reasons. For a start, there’s the way it begins … grabbing you on page one and never letting go. The story is set in the North East of England during the Second World War. Page one plunges the main character, Harry, into the middle of an air raid. Sirens, noise, confusion and exploding bombs. By the end of the first chapter, Harry has lost everything – his home, his family, even his rabbits. Reading it the first time, I was already completely hooked.
As Harry goes on the run he has to deal with some of life’s biggest challenges – finding food and shelter on a daily basis. He finds a purpose – trying to get to the island of Lindisfarne – and someone to care for – Don, the dog. As he travels around, he grows up – and this is another fantastic part of the book; the way without either us or him realising it, Harry changes and learns how to look after himself.
There’s a perfect balance in the story between exciting action where Harry faces terrible dangers, and Harry’s thoughts and feelings about his situation. You get completely inside Harry’s head and the book is really emotional, without ever being sentimental. And that’s another thing I love – the beautiful style in which the story is written.
