Jimmy and his younger brother Ronnie are evacuees. They find themselves with their schoolmates on a train to a small village in a valley in Wales, a world away from home in Islington, London. The country is at war but that’s not all Jimmy is worried about. He would rather be back with Dad and Nan than stuck with strangers in this odd place. Jimmy feels the separation from home more keenly than his younger brother and is very protective of Ronnie. Jimmy is reluctant to trust his new family even though they are welcoming and kind. When he finds a skull hidden in a tree, he begins to uncover secrets in the valley that had been kept hidden for years. Together with his brother and a new friend, he sets about uncovering the truth.

I was apprehensive about another evacuee book but this is about so much more than the evacuee experience. It is a book about friendships, trust and learning to let people in. It is not as emotionally brutal as Goodnight Mister Tom even though there are sensitive issues concerning the treatment of children within the book. Those issues are handled in a very delicate way. The book is rich in historical detail about everything from food, religion and household routines to the importance of coal mining in the Welsh rural communities.

Jimmy learns that you can find friendship in the most unlikely places and he has his eyes opened to the life of someone he had never given a second thought to. He learns that people can surprise you in different ways and that there is more to friendship than he had realised. It is a lovely book and I would definitely recommend reading it in conjunction with the study of World War Two.