Little Exiles

Jon Heather, proud to be nearly nine, knows that Christmas is a time for family. But one evening in December 1948, no longer able to cope, his mother leaves him by a door, above which the legend reads Chapeltown Boys’ Home of the Children’s Crusade. Several weeks later, still certain his mother will come back, Jon finds himself on a boat set for Australia. Promised paradise, Jon soon realizes the reality of the vast Australian outback is very different; its burnished desert becoming the backdrop for a strict regime of hard work and discipline.

So begins an odyssey that will last a lifetime, as Jon Heather and his group of unlikely friends battle to make their way back home.

Two exciting things today. One - I have tickets to see Beyonce in concert in May (I may have jumped up and down a few times... eeee!). Two - it is publication day for Mr. Robert Dinsdale and his third novel, Little Exiles, and I'm going to review it. Well, I was going to review it. Then someone said to me 'Ooo, you're brave' reviewing a friend's book. Thank. you. very. much. Now I feel considerably un-brave and still not quite sure whether this review is going to go ahead.

The fact this post is continuing, though, can give the author a little relief (because he is, naturally, waiting with bated breath to hear what I've got to say... I find most people are) as there was no way I would review this book if it was crap. I am not about to have that conversation.

A few years ago I read about the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown offering a formal apology on behalf of government to the tens of thousands of British children who were shipped, forcibly, to Australia (and some also to Canada) between the 1920s and 1967. Almost all of these children came from deprived backgrounds - many already in social care - and were taken to the other side of the world, unbeknownst to their parents (some of whom would try to collect their children to find they had gone), under the premise that Australia offered them a brighter future. Some of the children were even falsely told their parents were dead so that they would cut all ties with England.

Little Exiles brings to life this terrible ordeal through the eyes of Jon Heather and his friends. As a reader you witness the abuse, terror and brutality these children endured and of the unpaid labour they were forced to do but this novel also goes further and exposes the lasting effect of these experiences on the families involved. It is a coming-of-age story of the most traumatic kind but it is also a touching tale of friendship and hope. Hope you can forgive the corny... but you know I love a novel that spans a few decades so you can watch the characters transform.

While this is an adult read with plenty of complexity, the writing flows beautifully and the narrative somehow creates a tone of naivety that I really enjoyed - if that makes sense... I don't mean, though, that there isn't anger, tension, fear; I think this is one of the most frightening stories - made all the more so by being founded in something scarily real. I think if you enjoyed The Book Thief by Markus Zusak you would like this and everyone enjoyed The Book Thief.

Ps. If you didn't, we are not friends.

You can also see the author talk about his book here.