Back Home (A Puffin Book)

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Despite Lance and the little cabin, Rusty is still desperately lonely. Her unhappiness is compounded by the news that Beatie, who has always complained of 'ruddy indigestion', has died. Rusty and Peggy go to Devon for the reading of Beatie's will. Beatie leaves Rusty her collection of woodworking tools and leaves Peggy the house, with the condition that she's not to sell it for seventeen years and, if she does choose to sell it after that time, that she only sell it to a woman. These terms mean that Peggy cannot be forced by Roger to sell the house or put it into her husband's name, making her independent if she chooses to be. Rusty and Peggy spend the weekend in Devon and start to get to know each other a little better. Rusty discovers that her mother is actually fun and adventurous and that they surprisingly have quite a lot in common. Lance A fellow sea evacuee of Rusty's, Lance attends the boys' school near Rusty's and is also ostracised for his American accent and behaviour. He provides Rusty with a friend as he sneaks out to meet her in their cabin in the woods, admires her talent with handicrafts and they help each other with their schoolwork. Lance's parents are getting divorced and to escape the house he goes for long runs in the holidays which leads to him joining the school rugby team and being accepted by other students. I couldn't remember how the story ended, though, so reading it felt new to me. Even though I remembered the main part of the plot, I found myself engrossed in the story and wanted to see what would happen next.

Michelle Magorian - Wikipedia Michelle Magorian - Wikipedia

I have reread this book more than any other. In fact, once I finished reading it, felt sad, and immediately started it again. The book was made into a television film starring Hayley Mills (screenplay by David Wood) and won a Gold Award at the New York Film and Television Festival in 1990. Interestingly, Magorian’s first love when she was younger was to be an actress but she also loved writing and day dreaming – the perfect combination for a successful novelist.

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Her ambition was always to become an actress. After three years of study at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, she spent two years at Marcel Marceau's L'école Internationale de Mime in Paris. From there she launched into a professional acting career and spent a few years touring all over the country - from Scotland to Devon and then Yorkshire - working in repertory companies, taking any part she could. Michelle's worst stage part was playing Orinoco in The Wombles musical. All this time she had been secretly writing stories. When she was 24 she became interested in children's books, and decided to write one herself. Modern readers will think that the best, indeed the only, way forward would be divorce, something Rusty mentions to her secret friend Lance in relation to his parents. Rusty doesn't seem at all phased by the idea, perhaps due to her American upbringing. Lance, on the other hands, evinces all the horror that the contemporary Brit would feel at the allegation. This is at once a necessary interlude to indicate to the reader the impossibility of separation at the time, and a well constructed contrast between Rusty's American ideas and Lance's enforced Britishness. Aunt Hannah and Uncle Bruno Omsk Rusty's American host family, the Omsks embraced their role as surrogate parents, however always made sure Rusty never referred to them as 'Mom' or 'Pop'. Encouraging, kind and reasonable, the Omsks are creative and practical people who continue to send Rusty letters and presents. Rusty’s paternal grandmother is strict, critical and condescending. She intensely dislikes Rusty’s accent, her confidence and her behavior. She also feels Charlie is too coddled by her daughter-in-law and needs to learn to behave like a big boy.

Back Home by Michelle Magorian - Penguin Books Australia Back Home by Michelle Magorian - Penguin Books Australia

Rusty spends the following days feeling out of place in her new home. Peggy is cool and distant towards her, treats her like a child, and scolds her for unexpectedly mundane things, like talking about her American family, the Omsks. Rusty feels resentful towards her mother as Peggy doesn't appear to want to get to know her daughter, and instead spends a large portion of her days out working as a mechanic with the Women's Volunteer Service. Their mutual incomprehension comes to a head when Rusty heads out alone on the river in a rowboat, only to return hours later to find her mother furious with her for leaving without permission. The owner of the boat, thirteen-year-old Beth Hatherley, is initially angry with Rusty for taking the boat, however soon softens towards Rusty. They strike up the beginnings of a friendship, but are hampered by Peggy's protectiveness. Beth introduces Rusty to her three siblings and tells her about her school, a forward-thinking and progressive place (possibly based on Dartington Hall School considering the setting) that encourages creativity and independence. Rusty overhears her mother telling Beatie that the school isn't the right kind of place to receive a serious education, and that she is set in her plans to send Rusty to boarding school. This makes Rusty feel even more isolated from her mother. The only person aside from Beth to show Rusty any real warmth or affection is Beatie. But it doesn't fell like home. Rusty's mother is like a stranger, her little brother doesn't know her and why does the food taste so bad? Rusty just can't get used to the rigid rules and rationing and her strict new boarding school. But, if living in her grandmother’s felt like hell on earth, boarding school is worse. Benwood House is definitely not the Chalet School. It is cold, unfriendly, condescending and highly critical of Rusty’s American experience and, of course, the ‘despicable’ accent. Everything Rusty does seems to result in a mark against her and her house, which has the unfortunate name Butt House. Charlie's depiction, by contrast, is a delight. A four year old boy coping with the introduction of a sister, grandmother and father he never knew he had, as well as the (to him) inexplicable disappearance of his 'Uncle' Harvey. He doesn't adapt well to these changes, and is written in the same sympathetic way as the beloved children of Little Wierwold in Goodnight Mr. Tom.Michelle Magorian is undoubtedly one of the pre-eminent children’s writers of historical family drama and of books set around the Second World War. She may not be a household name but that’s purely because she doesn’t write as frequently as those more obvious bestselling novelists. Just Henry is her seventh novel. Unlike some authors Magorian writes when the time is right having first undertaken considerable research, followed by a lot of thinking time before actually putting pen to paper and then there’s always the very important rewrites to polish the story. Magorian loves the research and the writing in equal measure but particularly loves writing dialogue. Guardian Children's Fiction award-winning Michelle Magorian is the author of the iconic war-time children's book, Goodnight Mister Tom.

Back Home – TV Drama 1990 - Michelle Magorian Back Home – TV Drama 1990 - Michelle Magorian

On her return, her family seem like strangers. Her mum is a part time mechanic, her brother wasn't born before Virginia left for the US, and he becomes instantly jealous of her. Her dad is still serving in the war on her return. Virginia's mum, Peggy, had been evacuated to Devon and loves the Estate, and the home she and her friends have created during their time together. No one seems to understand Rusty, except the fun loving old timer, Beatie, who owns the house. Soon though, Virginia is sent to boarding school, and with her mother and brother, must readjust to their life before the war. Their former house is ruled by an unkindly grandmother, who dotes on Virginia's father, and disregards Peggy and her children for a myriad of reasons. At boarding school, Virginia is rejected by her peers for 'showing off' (very Enid Blyton), and by her teachers for being behind in her studies, although she was a good student in the States. About halfway through, Virginia finds a place in which she can unleash her creativity, which leads to the compelling ending. Ivy The other woman resident in Beattie's house, Ivy has a little girl of Charlie's age and her husband is Missing Believed Killed. Ivy marries an American GI who was a friend of Uncle Harvey but during the novel her husband is found in a POW camp, making the second marriage void, despite Ivy being heavily pregnant with her new husband's child. This was a situation that did happen quite often during the war, when one partner was presumed dead and their spouse moved on, only to discover that they were alive years later and that their new union wasn't lawful. And, to be honest, I returned because I've spent too long without reading a Michelle Magorian. She's one of those writers who simply is and always will be there in my life and her stories are ones that I return to when I need comfort, or when I just need to remind myself of what can happen when people are really good at what they do. There is a telemovie of this starring Hayley Mills as Peggy. I watched it all on You Tube, and it captured some parts of the book much better than my reading of the book did. Judith Poole is both old-school-mean-girl and earnest, for example.Also, what was the point of Ivy's character? Other than being a sort of parallel of Peggy, she didn't add anything to the start of the story, and then later we hear her melodramatic tragedy and then we never hear about her again. What was all that about? Oh and finally, there were way too many characters either being referenced or introduced at the start and it took me ages to remember who anyone was. Recommended: It is interesting, I think, for its subject matter of the returning evacuee, but even in this limited genre there are other books that do it better.

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I felt like the ending was a bit too tidy, but this is a YA book and geared for a younger audience--and it was originally published in 1984, so I had to take that into effect. One day Rusty meets a boy, Lance, from a nearby school who was also a US evacuee. She discovers that Lance lived in the same town as her US grandparents, the Fitzes. For the first time since returning to England Rusty feels happy and connected with someone who understands what she's going through. Unfortunately, talking to boys is strictly forbidden at Benwood, and Rusty is severely punished. Despite this, she manages to pass a message to Lance to meet her at midnight behind her school. From then on Rusty includes Lance in her nighttime forest wanderings and the two become friends. One night they stumble upon a bombed-out cottage that has an intact, albeit bare, sitting room. Rusty dubs the room their 'cabin in the woods'. The main issue I had was that Rusty mostly came across as a spoilt brat. Because she has spent the war in America, she is horrified by how poor the people in Britain are and looks down on them for it. Kinda hard to get behind a hero who acts like that. There seemed to be a theme of hypocrisy throughout the novel, particularly shown by Rusty's hatred of English patriotism and snobbery, while being arrogantly patriotic and snobby about America. Hypocrisy isn't a very fun theme. Also, the hypocrisy of Rusty thinking her mother wasn't ladylike because she was a mechanic and Peggy thinking her daughter wasn't ladylike because of woodwork never rang true for me.

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Michelle Magorian was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, [3] and is of Irish descent, her father William Magorian being from County Down, Ireland [ citation needed] She lived in Singapore and Australia from age seven to nine. As a child she spent as much time as possible in the Kings Theatre, Southsea.