Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17332 in Books
• Published on: 1987-08-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Synopsis
WW2 has just ended and twelve-year-old Rusty comes back home to Britain after being evacuated to the US. The greyness and bleakness of life in England is a shock, but even worse is adapting to the strict discipline of her family, including a brother she's never met, after the warmth and openness of her adopted American family. Rusty is sent to a horrific boarding school, before finally running away as her search for happiness becomes more and more desperate.

Customer Reviews

By far my favourite book as a child
I read this book when i was about 10 and I have read it many times since (I am now 17). The charisma of the main charater Rusty is inspirational, and i really enjoyed her bravery and courage. This book will want you to continue reading untill it is finished.
Also try other Michelle Magorian books. A Little Love Song and A Spoonful of Jam, are lovely summer reads... very light and easy to finnish..

A great story!!!
I was attracted to this book because it was by the same author who wrote Goodnight Mr. Tom. I have read the book, Goodnight Mr. Tom but didn't think it was as good as the film. When I bought Back Home, I wasn't very sure that it would be good considering I didn't particularly like the book Goodnight Mr. Tom. However after I had read a few pages, I couldn't put it down. I was completely hooked on the story.
Back Home is about the main character, Virginia Dickinson, nicknamed Rusty by her American family. After the war she goes back home to Britain. Everything in England is not as she expected though. She feels like her family are strangers and her little brother, Charlie, hasn't got used to the fact that he has a sister.
I think this story would appeal to a wide audience. It is not like other war stories. Reading this book I felt like Rusty was a person living now, not in the war.
I'm nto sure about anyone else but I found the end a bit disappointing, it wasn't how I expected (I won't say why because that could be a spoiler for people who are going to read it). However it was one of the best books I have ever read and I think everyone else should read it to.

A teenagers view
'Back home' tells the story of a child who was evacuated to America during the war, where she made a life and had a new family. The story shows her journey into her old life, in England, with her mother, father, who she left and her younger brother, whom she has never met before. "Rusty" does not fit into her place as she is expected and gets up to many cases of trouble. Her emotions to the new situations and relationships she makes are explored and developed throughtout the book. It is worth a read to anyone as it is written in Michelle Magorians special way that brings empathy on the characters the story is surrounded.