From School Library Journal
Grade 4–6—Set in 1935, this novel recounts the story of 11-year-old Dominic and his younger sister, Marlo. Their father is out of work, their mother is seriously ill, and the family has a dismal existence in London's East End. Dominic does not speak in the presence of strangers. When Uncle Roo takes the children to the Cornish coast for the summer, they live in a boardinghouse with loving but eccentric people. Dominic is befriended by a Gypsy girl with a wooden leg. As the situation between the locals and the Gypsies, who come to the area for the summer, becomes ugly, he finds the courage to speak up for them. Like his hero Lawrence of Arabia, Dominic defends the oppressed, finding his voice when it is most needed. At the beginning, this novel does not capture readers, and it has many British words and expressions that youngsters will find difficult to comprehend. But those who stay with it and become immersed in the story will find that it offers vivid descriptions of the setting, lively characters, and a satisfying ending.—
Lana Miles, Jackson Elementary School, Rosenberg, TX Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* In 1935 in London’s East End, 11-year-old Dominic has stopped speaking with anyone except his family. Is it because of his growing unease with his peers? “If I was really unlucky, I’d end up in the center of a circle of kids waiting to see me get beaten up.” Or is it the tough times at home, with his mum’s lungs growing weaker and his dad, a troubled Great War veteran, unable to find a job? Whatever the reason, the disability tortures him—the words are there, but he cannot get them out. When Uncle Roo steps in to take Dominic and his younger sister, Marlo, to his Cornwall village, Medina Hill, for the summer, Dominic is upset and reflects that “grown-up conspiracies are nothing new.” What is new to him, though, are the village’s eccentric characters; the captivating story of T. E. Lawrence that he discovers in a book; and an interesting new friend, Sancha, a fiercely independent Romany girl with a wooden leg who befriends the shy, speechless city boy. What had every promise of being a lazy, bucolic idyll turns into Dominic’s coming-of-age summer. Maybe it’s too much to expect this youngster to help turn the town’s tide against expelling the Gypsy community from its borders, but Dominic does manage to gradually find his voice and his courage in Kent’s highly original debut. Grades 6-9. --Anne O'Malley
