Goodnight Mister Tom

The name of the book I read over the Summer, was ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ by Michelle Magorian, a novel written in 1981. The story describes the experience of an evacuee, William Beech, during the time of the air raids in London, throughout the Second World War. Whilst being evacuated to the idyllic English countryside, William builds a remarkable and moving friendship with the elderly recluse Tom Oakley.William having had an abused childhood, emotionally and physically by his violent and religious mother, knows little of how the real world lives, however once placed into the hands of Tom Oakley, William becomes a loved figure and given a healthy upbringing. However William undergoes many ordeals as he heads back to London under the orders of his mother, in which, after several weeks he is found malnourished and holding his dead baby sister. As Tom takes the distressed William back home, he is then faced with the death of his closest friend Zach, after a bombing. As time goes by, each part of William gets stronger and eventually he becomes one, able to live a life, free from past incidents.

This novel not only presents the harsh times of war and the afflictions that people had to go through, but is a tale of two broken souls at very different ends of the age scale in which celebrates the value of love and proves that friendship knows no barriers. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and defiantly recommend it to you all

Amy x