Room for a Stranger (11 page)

“The sharply drawn wartime poverty will thrill readers of nine and up.”

The Times

“Turnbull combines an easy economy of style with a sharp eye for detail.”

Joanna Carey,
Guardian

“A lovely book for ten year olds plus”

Sunday Telegraph

“An eminently believable character study of a girl on the threshold of adolescence, this story combines with details about life in a small English town during wartime to illustrate a chapter in history in a fresh, approachable way.”

Publishers Weekly
, US

“A vibrant picture of preadolescent angst against the backdrop of war”

Kirkus Reviews
, US

“This finely written, brief novel gives a sensitive, realistic portrayal of a difficult and turbulent time in England during World War II. An excellent addition to historical fiction collections.”

School Library Journal
, US

“An honest picture of a working-class family”

Hazel Rochman,
Booklist
, US

 

Ann Turnbull grew up in south-east London but now lives in Shropshire. She has always loved reading and knew from the age of ten that she wanted to be an author. Her numerous books for children include
Alice in Love and War, A Long Way Home
and
House of Ghosts
, as well as her Quaker trilogy –
No Shame, No Fear
(shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Book Award and Whitbread Award)
Forged in the Fire
and
Seeking Eden
. For younger children, she has also written
Greek Myths
, illustrated by Sarah Young.

Local history was the inspiration behind the powerful and poignant trilogy of books about a mining family, the Dyers.
Pigeon Summer, No Friend of Mine
and
Room For a Stranger
follow the family and its fortunes from 1930 through to the early years of the Second World War.
Pigeon Summer
has been dramatized for TV and radio as well as being shortlisted for the Smarties Book Prize and the WH Smith Mind Boggling Books Award.

Find out more about Ann Turnbull and her books at
annturnbull.com
.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the authors' imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

First published 1996 by Walker Books Ltd

87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ

This edition published 2013

Text © 1996 Ann Turnbull

Cover illustration © 1996 Jean-Paul Tibbies

The right of Ann Turnbull to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-4063 5067-8 (ePub)

www.walker.co.uk