Letters from the Lighthouse: ‘THE QUEEN OF HISTORICAL FICTION’ Guardian: 1

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Letters from the Lighthouse is told with a lightness of touch which makes for a deeply engaging tale but the real joy is in the small details. This gripping read for anyone aged 7 or over is a pertinent reminder of how the effort of a group of individuals can shine light on the darkest of nights. She stumbles on discoveries that lead her on a daring mission to save others who are in terrible danger. In Letters from the Lighthouse, Carroll not only captures the past with an engaging and affecting narrative but shows herself to be a leading historical novelist for children. I felt transported into World War II: the rushing when there was an air-raid siren, why some children wanted to be evacuated and why some children did not, living with rationing and experiencing different lifestyles once evacuated.

A main focus of the story is the growing friendship between Olive and a Jewish refugee named Esther. It’s a fantastic independent book seller that will actually be responsive and select appropriate books for you. Suffice to say, it contains plenty of twists and turns to keep you engrossed, as Olive tries to decode a mysterious note she has found in the pocket of the coat that her sister was wearing on the night she vanished. I found it fascinating, although I’m not a native of Somerset I live here now and loved the combination of local history and magical imagination. I had lots of different opinions throughout the book about what was going on and my predictions must have changes at least ten times.Olive is a wonderful young girl: she is clever, resilient, kind and likeable, but is also capable of making mistakes and taking actions which she later regrets.

Thereafter, why is there so little sympathy for the city children who need the comfort of a seaside setting? Romanul acesta, atât de potrivit pentru copii și adolescenți pentru a afla ce a însemnat cel de Al Doilea Război Mondial și ce suferințe a provocat, este unul plin de aventură, de mister întreținut prin intermediul unor coduri secrete, dar și unul despre a fi om chiar și în timpuri grele, despre umanitate, comunitate, acceptare, toleranță, iubire de aproape, prietenie, compasiune, creare de legături născute din suferințe mari și bunătate arătată tuturor, indiferent dacă sunt prieteni sau dușmani. Mystery and suspense have been cleverly woven throughout the book and never feel forced, instead giving children a hook to keep wanting to come back to the story. The author conveys the relationship between these two younger siblings beautifully; Olive’s love and care for her eight-year-old brother is palpable. This one is different as it is more than narrating what it was like for these children, having to leave their families behind, to be - not always voluntarily and happily but more begrudgingly - taken in by strangers in the country side; it turns into a full-blown mystery involving code-cracking and a major rescue operation.

Esther is angry and resentful having lost her home and family and is finding it incredibly difficult to adjust to her new life.

I think it was the last thing I read before The Toll which really killed my reading buzz, and I think Tsunami was a casualty of that as it’s a review I wanted to take my time with. They find a code in Sukie's coat pocket and then who was the man she was talking to was another question they had to find the answer to. They are the sort of books that the ten-year old me would have adored and they have a magic about them which makes me look forward to reading her latest books with a childlike excitement. its a suspenseful book that uses good vocabulary and relates to real peoples lives in the past (1941).This fictionalised story is as memorable as Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful and as beautifully written as Warhorse. Then she finds a strange coded note – a note that changes everything and which seems to link Sukie to Devon, and to something dark and impossibly dangerous. The story was set in February 1941 at the beginning of the second World War in London and Devon, two very different cities.