The characters are charming
question: How is the child?, context: The reviews of this book frequently use the word "delightful" and that's an apt word. The characters are charming, the period voice feels right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read.I'd especially recommend it for fans of Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road; the tone and the literary references are so similar I'd be shocked if that book weren't one of the influence on this one.  (After all, even in England in 1946 were there all *that* many fans of Elia?)I'm subtracting one star for holes in the internal logic; I have some trouble believing that the island's inhabitants would be so happy to have a book written about them by someone they'd known for so short a time. People seem very quick to trust, in general, especially right after so many years of having to be so cautious of betrayal. I may be wrong, but I think the British reserve and the remnants of the class system would have played a greater role throughout than they do here; the language in the first part is perfect 1946 (I wasn't around; I'm using Hanff as a standard) but it's a bit less period-perfect toward the end of the book.It deserves four stars, though, because none of these things diminished my enjoyment of the book; they just left me thinking "But, wait-" afterward. 
How is the child?
The characters are charming , the period voice feels right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read.
The reviews of this book frequently use the word "delightful" and that's an apt word. The characters are charming, the period voice feels right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read.I'd especially recommend it for fans of Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road; the tone and the literary references are so similar I'd be shocked if that book weren't one of the influence on this one.  (After all, even in England in 1946 were there all *that* many fans of Elia?)I'm subtracting one star for holes in the internal logic; I have some trouble believing that the island's inhabitants would be so happy to have a book written about them by someone they'd known for so short a time. People seem very quick to trust, in general, especially right after so many years of having to be so cautious of betrayal. I may be wrong, but I think the British reserve and the remnants of the class system would have played a greater role throughout than they do here; the language in the first part is perfect 1946 (I wasn't around; I'm using Hanff as a standard) but it's a bit less period-perfect toward the end of the book.It deserves four stars, though, because none of these things diminished my enjoyment of the book; they just left me thinking "But, wait-" afterward. 
<hl> The characters are charming <hl> , the period voice feels right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read.
The reviews of this book frequently use the word "delightful" and that's an apt word. <hl> The characters are charming <hl>, the period voice feels right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read.I'd especially recommend it for fans of Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road; the tone and the literary references are so similar I'd be shocked if that book weren't one of the influence on this one. (After all, even in England in 1946 were there all *that* many fans of Elia?)I'm subtracting one star for holes in the internal logic; I have some trouble believing that the island's inhabitants would be so happy to have a book written about them by someone they'd known for so short a time. People seem very quick to trust, in general, especially right after so many years of having to be so cautious of betrayal. I may be wrong, but I think the British reserve and the remnants of the class system would have played a greater role throughout than they do here; the language in the first part is perfect 1946 (I wasn't around; I'm using Hanff as a standard) but it's a bit less period-perfect toward the end of the book.It deserves four stars, though, because none of these things diminished my enjoyment of the book; they just left me thinking "But, wait-" afterward. 
The reviews of this book frequently use the word "delightful" and that's an apt word. <hl> The characters are charming , the period voice feels right, there are enough painful stories from the war to make it feel real without having so many as to make the book unpleasantly grim, and well, this is just a nicebook to read. <hl> I'd especially recommend it for fans of Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road; the tone and the literary references are so similar I'd be shocked if that book weren't one of the influence on this one. (After all, even in England in 1946 were there all *that* many fans of Elia?)I'm subtracting one star for holes in the internal logic; I have some trouble believing that the island's inhabitants would be so happy to have a book written about them by someone they'd known for so short a time. People seem very quick to trust, in general, especially right after so many years of having to be so cautious of betrayal. I may be wrong, but I think the British reserve and the remnants of the class system would have played a greater role throughout than they do here; the language in the first part is perfect 1946 (I wasn't around; I'm using Hanff as a standard) but it's a bit less period-perfect toward the end of the book. It deserves four stars, though, because none of these things diminished my enjoyment of the book; they just left me thinking "But, wait-" afterward.