Product Description

Set in WW2, Carrie and her little brother are evacuated to Wales and billeted at the home of the bullying Mr Evans and his timid sister Lou. Unhappy at home, they love visiting fellow evacue, Albert, at the farm of Druid's Bottom. Here they meet Hepzibah Green, who knows magical stories, and Mister Johnny, who speaks a language all his own. But then things go wrong and Carrie takes things into her own hands - without guessing the awful consequences.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5294 in Books
• Published on: 1974-01-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Review
The stingy fundamentalist shopkeeper Mr. Evans and his timid sister Aunt Lou provide a secure if spartan existence for youngsters Carrie and Nick during their time as evacuees from wartorn London. And for warmth and good food, there was always their treasured visits to the kitchen at Druid's Bottom, where the witch-wise servant woman Hepzibah cared for Mr. Evans' senile sister Dilys Gotobed, for mute and retarded Mr. Johnny and for fellow evacuee Albert Sandwich. Years later as she recalls these scenes for her children, Carrie is still haunted by the fear that her spiteful defiance of an old superstition may have caused the conflagration at Druid's Bottom that she glimpsed from a train window on the day of her departure. And she remembers the time when everyone believed that by confiding in Mr. Evans, for whom she alone felt pity, she had helped rob Hepzibah of her rightful inheritance. The murky atmosphere of the eccentric country household and the nitpicking routines dictated by Mr. Evans' compulsive thrift are adroitly contrasted, but the real reward is Carrie's insight into the loneliness of an unsympathetic old man. The realities of chilblains and fried bread in a Welsh mining town and the mysteries of that remembered "dark green, silent place" in the valley overgrown by yew trees are fused into a story of hushed suspense and emotional complexity. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
Set in WW2, Carrie and her little brother are evacuated to Wales and billeted at the home of the bullying Mr Evans and his timid sister Lou. Unhappy at home, they love visiting fellow evacue, Albert, at the farm of Druid's Bottom. Here they meet Hepzibah Green, who knows magical stories, and Mister Johnny, who speaks a language all his own. But then things go wrong and Carrie takes things into her own hands - without guessing the awful consequences.

About the Author
Nina Bawden is one of today's best writers for both adults and children. she has often used her own childhood experiences in her books - Carrie's War is set in the mining valley in Wales where she lived as an evacuee in wartime. She studied philosophy, politics and economics at Somerville College, Oxford and finished her first novel the year after she took her degree. She won the Guardian Award for Children's Fiction for The Peppermint Pig.

Customer Reviews

Interesting
My Daughter is Home Schooled due to illness, her Tutor read this to her as part of her English lessons. The first chapter was captivating and got her hooked on the story, each week they would read a chapter and even I became interested.

The Story is about a teenage girl who is evacuated to Wales with her brother to live with a Shop owner and his sister.

Its an interesting read although not one I would have chosen for myself but as the book progressed I became more and more interested, I enjoyed listening to the tutor reading it aloud, it came alive (even Mums like stories read to them) even though I was in another room pretending to work!

To end the story we watched the DVD of the BBC TV production.
I intend to buy both the book and DVD for my Daughter, she didn't want the story to end.

I know I have not said much of the story itself but there a plenty of reviews doing that.

This is well worth getting to read to any child I highly recommend it.
Happy reading!

Evokes Great memories
I remember reading this as a child and being fairly frightened by the subject matter. It has quite a 'ghostly' feel to it and Bawden has a real knack for cranking up the suspense. I read it again recently whilst trying to gauge whether it would be suitable for my nine year old and was quite disappointed to find that it wasn't as tense as I remembered.

Having said that it is a compelling story told in the form of flashbacks. Carrie and her friends move to Wales as evacuees and become entangled in the complicated lives of the local people they live with. In trying to deal with issues beyond her understanding, Carrie makes mistakes that continue to haunt her into her adult life. The book is well balanced between the immediacy of Carrie's feelings at the time and what she understands in retrospect, which is why the flashbacks work so well.

Thoughtful and powerful. Recommended for tens and up.

Carrie's War - Brilliant!
I remember seeing this on the tv in school when i was a child of about 12 years old and i was amazed at the fantastic story line and never forgot this story and it is now more than 20 years since i seen it and seeing this book again brought all the wonderful story lines back about what it must have been like to have been evacuated and put into a place where there was lots of adventure for these children in Carrie's War. I had to buy this book to read again and then to keep it for my son whose not quite 3 yet for him to read when he's old enough to grasp the intreging story line and for me also to read it to him. :-)