Victor Watson - Paradise Barn Series
Posted: 03 Mar 2016, 10:51
This series was recommended to me by Tony and I've just read the third book, Hidden Lies, which comes after Paradise Barn and The Deeping Secrets. The fourth book is Everyone a Stranger and there's also a fifth title, Operation Blackout, which backtracks a few years and is a spin-off, having only a loose connection with the main series.
The books are set during the Second World War and revolve around three children/teenagers who are close friends - Molly, Abigail and Adam. Another boy called Edward features quite prominently too. They have a barn where they meet, near their village of Great Deeping, and they're drawn into mystery, intrigue and adventure related to the war. The books are well-written, being thoughtful as well as gripping, and the characters seem very "real". I enjoyed the first book but thought the second was even better - and the third one fantastic.
Hidden Lies, which I finished last night, was published in 2012. As it's set in 1944 details like food, clothes, currency, measurements and descriptions of planes are correct for the period:
"There were thick beef sandwiches, a jar of pickled onions, and a jug of milk."
"Enjoying a mug of cocoa..."
"In the suitcase that Molly brought there were shirts, vests, pants, trousers, socks, a mackintosh and two woollen jerseys."
"...came out again wearing a pair of grey flannel trousers. Long trousers."
"How do I order sand?" she said. "By volume? By weight? Or what?"
"Well," Willy Broadbent said slowly, "you can order by volume, cubic yards. But most people just order a cartload and we generally know what they want. But the best thing is to order it by weight."
"So should I work out how much sand I want by the stone?" she asked.
"Stone? No! Hundredweight, that's what we generally deal in."
"A brand-new Lancaster roared low overhead..."
"Halifaxes!" Adam shouted.
"And Horsas!" Edward shouted back.
Cassie couldn't tell a Halifax from a Tiger Moth, so she said nothing.
There are also references to putting "pennies" in a phone box and getting through to a "telephone operator", though I can't find those at the moment.
It's strange, because those are exactly the sorts of details that modern readers are supposed to have such difficulty understanding - according to publishers, anyway! In some children's books that were written in the 1940s but are still in print, such references have been changed, e.g. Enid Blyton's characters from the 1930s-50s now eat doughnuts, wear jeans and spend decimal money - and in The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage the Tempests have been altered to "jets"!
Hidden Lies also has an "Author's Note" explaining the significance of the D-Day landings (which are important to the story) and discussing 1940s scholarship schemes and wartime attitudes to female pilots. If a note like that can be included in a modern book which has a historical setting, why can't similar notes be added to modern editions of historical books?!
The books are set during the Second World War and revolve around three children/teenagers who are close friends - Molly, Abigail and Adam. Another boy called Edward features quite prominently too. They have a barn where they meet, near their village of Great Deeping, and they're drawn into mystery, intrigue and adventure related to the war. The books are well-written, being thoughtful as well as gripping, and the characters seem very "real". I enjoyed the first book but thought the second was even better - and the third one fantastic.
Hidden Lies, which I finished last night, was published in 2012. As it's set in 1944 details like food, clothes, currency, measurements and descriptions of planes are correct for the period:
"There were thick beef sandwiches, a jar of pickled onions, and a jug of milk."
"Enjoying a mug of cocoa..."
"In the suitcase that Molly brought there were shirts, vests, pants, trousers, socks, a mackintosh and two woollen jerseys."
"...came out again wearing a pair of grey flannel trousers. Long trousers."
"How do I order sand?" she said. "By volume? By weight? Or what?"
"Well," Willy Broadbent said slowly, "you can order by volume, cubic yards. But most people just order a cartload and we generally know what they want. But the best thing is to order it by weight."
"So should I work out how much sand I want by the stone?" she asked.
"Stone? No! Hundredweight, that's what we generally deal in."
"A brand-new Lancaster roared low overhead..."
"Halifaxes!" Adam shouted.
"And Horsas!" Edward shouted back.
Cassie couldn't tell a Halifax from a Tiger Moth, so she said nothing.
There are also references to putting "pennies" in a phone box and getting through to a "telephone operator", though I can't find those at the moment.
It's strange, because those are exactly the sorts of details that modern readers are supposed to have such difficulty understanding - according to publishers, anyway! In some children's books that were written in the 1940s but are still in print, such references have been changed, e.g. Enid Blyton's characters from the 1930s-50s now eat doughnuts, wear jeans and spend decimal money - and in The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage the Tempests have been altered to "jets"!
Hidden Lies also has an "Author's Note" explaining the significance of the D-Day landings (which are important to the story) and discussing 1940s scholarship schemes and wartime attitudes to female pilots. If a note like that can be included in a modern book which has a historical setting, why can't similar notes be added to modern editions of historical books?!