Author(s): Rowena House

Teen Fiction

A debut novel about one girl's remarkable journey across France during WWI. France 1916. Angélique Lacroix is haymaking when the postman delivers the news: her father is dead, killed on a distant battlefield. She makes herself a promise: the farm will remain exactly the same until her beloved older brother comes home from the Front. "I think of it like a magical spell. If I can stop time, if nothing ever changes, then maybe he won't change either." But a storm ruins the harvest, her mother falls ill and then the requisition appears... In a last-ditch attempt to save the farm from bankruptcy, Angélique embarks on a journey across France with her brother's flock of magnificent Toulouse geese.

Kathleen's review - I really enjoyed this book. There's a nice mixture in the characters - some callous, some brutal, some indifferent, some helpful, some caring - and there's the adventure of travelling across wartime France. Angelique has to learn some tough lessons and I found myself really involved with her. I also found reading of the effects of war on the country people to be very interesting - it's not a theme that is often explored.