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As the plot develops, the author explores the social forces at work in 1943 Britain. Chas, the son of a gas fitter, embarks on a tentative relationship with Sheila, the daughter of a prominent local magistrate. The relationship between Chas and Sheila explores the hope and inexperience of first love.
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The book is largely unsentimental. The
Maltese of the Low Street are described in pungent detail as petty criminals and vice merchants although Chas does establish a friendship with some of them. This is a development of the theme of maturity and also Chas's growing sense of political identity
216:, which puts a distinctly human perspective on war. In addition the sheer banality of continuing war is alluded to, and a sense of late war fatigue which began to grip Britain at this time; reference is made to miners striking for better pay, and shipyard workers stealing
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fleshes out the world war. The ongoing effects of four years of rationing are covered (examples: Chas putting a hole in his trousers; the items brought by the different protagonists to a beach picnic; the
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that had so recently been underway on the island of Malta, and the reader is left with a lingering sense of unjustified mistrust about one character until late in the novel.
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with", but the relationship is not approved of by Sheila's parents. In the end it is Chas's father who clarifies matters. The McGill family bookshelf consists of a shelf of
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that has fled to
Britain including: Scandinavian fishermen, the Maltese underclass, and Jewish pawnbrokers. It is through one of these that Chas encounters a widow of the
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184:(1975). The book combines elements of spy story with the rites of a passage of teenage life. The characters are now older than in
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Upon meeting Sheila's mother, Chas is seduced by the prospect of "adults who you could discuss
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informed by what he has read in his father's books. No mention is made of the
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295:(1st Borzoi Sprinters ed.). New York: Knopf. pp. 84–87.
208:"—a not-highly regarded meat-free pie). There is reference to the
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from lifeboats, resulting in the deaths of torpedoed sailors.
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tends to focus on the bombing and fear of invasion in 1941,
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16:1979 novel by Robert Westall
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369:Westall, Robert (1990).
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266:Westall, Robert (1990).
178:, and is the sequel to
447:1979 children's books
442:Fiction set in 1943
417:1979 British novels
238:Homage to Catalonia
193:The Machine Gunners
186:The Machine Gunners
181:The Machine Gunners
174:is a 1979 novel by
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22:Fathom Five
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226:T. S. Eliot
206:Woolton pie
197:Fathom Five
171:Fathom Five
149:Subclass PZ
72:Set in
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380:0679801316
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253:References
135:0333273850
75:Garmouth,
63:Children's
87:Macmillan
83:Publisher
234:Orwell's
210:diaspora
49:Language
53:English
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98:1979
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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