Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5378 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Possibly one of the most talked about books of the year, Meg Rosoff’s novel for young adults is the winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2004. Heralded by some as the next best adult crossover novel since Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, who himself has given the book a thunderously good quote, this author’s debut is undoubtedly stylish, readable and fascinating.

Rosoff’s story begins in modern day London, slightly in the future, and as its heroine has a 15-year-old Manhattanite called Daisy. She’s picked up at the airport by Edmond, her English cousin, a boy in whose life she is destined to become intricately entwined. Daisy is staying for the summer in her Aunt Penn’s country farmhouse with Edmond and her other cousins. They spend some idyllic weeks together--often alone with Aunt Penn away travelling in Norway. Daisy’s cousins seem to have an almost telepathic bond, and Daisy is mesmerised by Edmond and soon falls in love with him.

But their world changes forever when an unnamed aggressor invades England and begins a years-long occupation. Daisy is parted from Edmond when soldiers take over their home, and Daisy and Piper, her younger cousin, must travel to another place to work. Their experiences of occupation are never kind and always hard. Daisy’s pain, living without Edmond, is tangible.

Rosoff’s writing style is both brilliant and frustrating. Her descriptions and ability to portray the emotions of her characters are wonderful. Her long sentences and total lack of speech marks for dialogue is, however, exhausting. Her narrative is deeply engaging and yet a bit unbelievable. The end of the book is dramatic, but too sudden. The book has a raw, unfinished feel about it, yet that somehow adds to the experience of reading it. It’s flawed but unmissable. (Age 14 and over) --John McLay

Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
a magical and utterly faultless voice

Time Out
the best children's novel for adults since The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Customer Reviews

a children's book that made me cry
Motherless Daisy is 15 years old when she is sent by her re-married father from New York to rural England to live with her 4 cousins, whose mother is mainly working or absent, so the children have to fend for themselves. Even though it takes the girl from the Big Apple some time to get used to live in the countryside of another country, she soon discovers that she has not only found new friends, but also a soulmate and lover in her cousin Edmond. But then disaster strikes: war breaks out and slowly but surely the children get dragged into the conflict and the family falls apart. All through the ordeal Daisy is accompanied by her younger cousin Piper and she definitely feels the presence of Edmond, who they are trying to find during a long, harrowing hike through the countryside in which they try to stay away from the enemy. When Daisy finally finds Edmond back it is too little, too late...

A beautiful book, very much written from the perspective of Daisy. The book starts out light and funny iwith the observations of an American town girl on English life and customs, but it gets more and more grim when the war with the (unidentified) enemy breaks out and things go from bad to worse. A book for adolescents with a light and a dark side.

Brilliant!! Brilliant!!! Brilliant!!!!!!!!
This is just so phenomenally well written. I defy anyone to read it unmoved. I finished it this morning and it has been right at the front of my mind all day. It has joy, it has humour, it has fear and sheer horror and each is absolutely real.

The "heroine" of the book is self absorbed so that events which do not immediately concern her - like a World War - are hardly noticed as she is completely wrapped up in abandoning herself body and soul to her cousin. Eventually she faces the real world and the reader is spared nothing in her descriptions of what horrors are around her. The words are simply written, with not a wasted syllable, and very powerful. I was grabbed by the throat and found it unputtdownable.

This adds to my tally of great books on the futility and sheer waste which is war. Unlike other reviewers I didn't rate Birdsong as highly as some Pat Barker novels, All Quiet on the Western Front, An Ice Cream War, or (my favourite) A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot.

Read this book. Read it now. I am prepared to put good money on its being "discovered" over the course of the coming year - so get ahead of theh crowd and be ready to be utterly dazzled and have your breath taken from you. In the words of another writer, this is a breathtaking work of staggering genius.

Brilliant!!! Brilliant!!!!! Brilliant!!!!!!!!

A Must Read
It is always said that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but in this instance, I did. I was rush buying for a holiday and the dark yet beautiful cover caught my eye, telling a story of beauty and fear.

The novel delivered exactly what I had seen on the cover. The story is engaging and for a girl aged 14 (I am now 16) I could totally relate to Daisy. The subject matter is different from anything else seen in childrens books today, which some may think makes the book harder to read, when in actual fact makes the story far more interesting. Some aspects are rather upsetting, but I felt this to be a good transition into slightly more mature novels. The relationship between Daisy and Edmond in particular was an introduction to adult themes that teenagers come across on a much more regular basis as they grow.

Two years have passed and I still read this, finding it as moving as I did the first time. I don't feel either that there is a set audience for this novel, anyone could read it and enjoy it as much as I did.

Its cover shall forever be imprinted in my mind as an image of what I wish my life could be, and the story will never be forgotten.