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feather_ghyll) wrote2024-01-08 08:00 pm
feather_ghyll) wrote2024-01-08 08:00 pm
REVIEW: The Swallows' Flight
The Swallows’ Flight: Hilary McKay. Macmillan, 2021
This book mainly follows four humans and a dog. We are introduced to Erik and Hans, boys who live in the same apartment block and truly become friends in 1931; Ruby, the second child of Violet, who we met in McKay’s The Skylarks’ War, to which this is a follow-up; Kate, the last of Peter and Vanessa Penrose’s children; and a dog in a scrapyard in London. Both Ruby and Kate share a godmother in Clarry Penrose, so we know they have a connection and are likely to meet. Will all the human main characters and dog meet, though? As Erik and Hans are Berliners, and the story progresses through the thirties, with Kate becoming increasingly alarmed by talk of war, the question of how they could becomes more complex.
We gradually learn what happened to the former main characters of ‘The Skylarks’ War’, but they’re now peripheral adults. By introducing Erik and his mother (his father died in the first world war), and Hans and his sisters Lisa and Frieda, and their parents (their father lost a leg in the first world war, while their pilot uncle was more fortunate) McKay brings in a new element. They also provide a new perspective on the aftermath of the first world war and the treaty of Versailles.
It is protective Erik who introduces the swallows, this book’s emblematic birds. He nurses three fledglings and ‘pays’ his classmates for flies to feed them, This venture, which Hans declares mad, is what brings the boys together. Erik is enthralled by birds and animals, and his ambition is to work in Berlin Zoo. Hans’s dream is to run a gingerbread stall outside, and the two are firm friends. Hans is an independent-minded boy. As they grow up, Hitler and Nazism grow in power around them and the boys only gradually realise what it means. Suddenly, the Hitler Youth and National Service are compulsory, dreams and kindness (especially towards Jews) must be put aside for survival.
Meanwhile, the birth of Ruby Amaryllis has upended her big brother Will’s life. All his childhood and youth, he never really forgives her for ending the period when he was the only child, the only one who his parents loved and thought of. He winds her up and puts her down, and despite their gentle father’s wishes, the two refuse to get on, always feeling in competition. In contrast, Kate’s big sisters and brothers love and look after their little sister. She’s always sickly and, they worry, perhaps rather useless.
Of course, Kate isn’t useless, and although it takes Rupert ages to notice her among the other children, for whom he has been an enthralling and most satisfactory uncle, when he does, he starts to see her worth. As I was finding Rupert a bit much up until then, (unfairly, as it turned out, McKay has a knack for defying expectations,) it should also be no surprise that it is Kate who gets through the most to her grandfather. From this new perspective, Peter and Clarry’s irascible father is shown in a more sympathetic, although never rose-tinted, light. Kate and her livelier siblings, the eldest of whom go off to play their part in the war effort that their parents had hoped they’d never have to are a testament to Peter and Vanessa’s parenting. (Hans’s exasperation with his sister Lisa, but adoration of younger sister Frieda sits somewhere in the middle of the two other portraits of siblings in the book.)
Hans’s Uncle Karl arranges for the boys to learn how to fly – Erik takes to it as if he were one of his beloved birds – and this means that they are destined for the Luftwaffe. Ruby has been glad enough that Will left home and joined the army, because he’s out of her way, but when the war starts, Will is no longer a bored boy, but facing real danger. For their part of Plymouth, when British soldiers are mentioned, he’s the one they think of. Meanwhile, because of the war, the dog (who I thought I could take or leave, although McKay doesn’t sentimentalise him, and although we get his POV, we also get the context for that POV) gets a chance to find people who don’t want him to be a brutalised guard-dog, but to get a name and a person.
Erik and Hans have to use absurd humour to try to deal with the horrors of fighting in a war, while Kate’s habit of recording every detail in a diary acquires new significance for her family. Meanwhile, Ruby refuses to be evacuated when she should be, but when the first bomb falls in Plymouth, her mother puts her foot down. The five characters do meet. Kate proves to be her mother’s daughter, Hans, the weaker pilot, gets the chance to save his best friend, and Ruby ends up treating the enemy with kindness in a way that her brother (a prisoner of war who keeps trying to escape until he learns better) could only hope of.
I appreciate that it’s a difficult juggling act to write a children’s book and adequately represent the horrors of the 1930s and second world war – there are deaths, there have to be – the handling of what Jews suffered is done adroitly, via Jewish neighbours in Berlin and Plymouth. I thought McKay did a good job on this. The war and the build-up to it are mixed up with the characters’ growing pains – Ruby struggles with her birth marks, while Erik is aghast to find people are afraid of him when he’s fully grown and in uniform.
I found it less powerful than ‘The Skylarks’ War,’ perhaps because there is far more fiction about the second world war, or I’ve certainly read far more, although McKay‘s vivid characters and their specific experiences come to life well enough. The part about people who could afford to putting their pets down as part of the preparation for war was very touching. Arguably, the symbolic swallows was a little too much about finding an equivalent to skylarks. They are mainly a symbol for Erik, nobody else, diluting the power of the title. Perhaps because I’d already read about the adults in their lives, perhaps because they’re girls, I was slightly more invested in Kate and Ruby’s stories. Rupert drops out of things for a good chunk of the book, reunions are not quite what you thought they’d be. But we get to read a little more about Clarry and meet brave Kate, fierce Ruby, kind Erik, loyal Hans, (plus the dog) and the adults who influenced them…
I read this over the end of 2023 and the start of 2024.
This book mainly follows four humans and a dog. We are introduced to Erik and Hans, boys who live in the same apartment block and truly become friends in 1931; Ruby, the second child of Violet, who we met in McKay’s The Skylarks’ War, to which this is a follow-up; Kate, the last of Peter and Vanessa Penrose’s children; and a dog in a scrapyard in London. Both Ruby and Kate share a godmother in Clarry Penrose, so we know they have a connection and are likely to meet. Will all the human main characters and dog meet, though? As Erik and Hans are Berliners, and the story progresses through the thirties, with Kate becoming increasingly alarmed by talk of war, the question of how they could becomes more complex.
We gradually learn what happened to the former main characters of ‘The Skylarks’ War’, but they’re now peripheral adults. By introducing Erik and his mother (his father died in the first world war), and Hans and his sisters Lisa and Frieda, and their parents (their father lost a leg in the first world war, while their pilot uncle was more fortunate) McKay brings in a new element. They also provide a new perspective on the aftermath of the first world war and the treaty of Versailles.
It is protective Erik who introduces the swallows, this book’s emblematic birds. He nurses three fledglings and ‘pays’ his classmates for flies to feed them, This venture, which Hans declares mad, is what brings the boys together. Erik is enthralled by birds and animals, and his ambition is to work in Berlin Zoo. Hans’s dream is to run a gingerbread stall outside, and the two are firm friends. Hans is an independent-minded boy. As they grow up, Hitler and Nazism grow in power around them and the boys only gradually realise what it means. Suddenly, the Hitler Youth and National Service are compulsory, dreams and kindness (especially towards Jews) must be put aside for survival.
Meanwhile, the birth of Ruby Amaryllis has upended her big brother Will’s life. All his childhood and youth, he never really forgives her for ending the period when he was the only child, the only one who his parents loved and thought of. He winds her up and puts her down, and despite their gentle father’s wishes, the two refuse to get on, always feeling in competition. In contrast, Kate’s big sisters and brothers love and look after their little sister. She’s always sickly and, they worry, perhaps rather useless.
Of course, Kate isn’t useless, and although it takes Rupert ages to notice her among the other children, for whom he has been an enthralling and most satisfactory uncle, when he does, he starts to see her worth. As I was finding Rupert a bit much up until then, (unfairly, as it turned out, McKay has a knack for defying expectations,) it should also be no surprise that it is Kate who gets through the most to her grandfather. From this new perspective, Peter and Clarry’s irascible father is shown in a more sympathetic, although never rose-tinted, light. Kate and her livelier siblings, the eldest of whom go off to play their part in the war effort that their parents had hoped they’d never have to are a testament to Peter and Vanessa’s parenting. (Hans’s exasperation with his sister Lisa, but adoration of younger sister Frieda sits somewhere in the middle of the two other portraits of siblings in the book.)
Hans’s Uncle Karl arranges for the boys to learn how to fly – Erik takes to it as if he were one of his beloved birds – and this means that they are destined for the Luftwaffe. Ruby has been glad enough that Will left home and joined the army, because he’s out of her way, but when the war starts, Will is no longer a bored boy, but facing real danger. For their part of Plymouth, when British soldiers are mentioned, he’s the one they think of. Meanwhile, because of the war, the dog (who I thought I could take or leave, although McKay doesn’t sentimentalise him, and although we get his POV, we also get the context for that POV) gets a chance to find people who don’t want him to be a brutalised guard-dog, but to get a name and a person.
Erik and Hans have to use absurd humour to try to deal with the horrors of fighting in a war, while Kate’s habit of recording every detail in a diary acquires new significance for her family. Meanwhile, Ruby refuses to be evacuated when she should be, but when the first bomb falls in Plymouth, her mother puts her foot down. The five characters do meet. Kate proves to be her mother’s daughter, Hans, the weaker pilot, gets the chance to save his best friend, and Ruby ends up treating the enemy with kindness in a way that her brother (a prisoner of war who keeps trying to escape until he learns better) could only hope of.
I appreciate that it’s a difficult juggling act to write a children’s book and adequately represent the horrors of the 1930s and second world war – there are deaths, there have to be – the handling of what Jews suffered is done adroitly, via Jewish neighbours in Berlin and Plymouth. I thought McKay did a good job on this. The war and the build-up to it are mixed up with the characters’ growing pains – Ruby struggles with her birth marks, while Erik is aghast to find people are afraid of him when he’s fully grown and in uniform.
I found it less powerful than ‘The Skylarks’ War,’ perhaps because there is far more fiction about the second world war, or I’ve certainly read far more, although McKay‘s vivid characters and their specific experiences come to life well enough. The part about people who could afford to putting their pets down as part of the preparation for war was very touching. Arguably, the symbolic swallows was a little too much about finding an equivalent to skylarks. They are mainly a symbol for Erik, nobody else, diluting the power of the title. Perhaps because I’d already read about the adults in their lives, perhaps because they’re girls, I was slightly more invested in Kate and Ruby’s stories. Rupert drops out of things for a good chunk of the book, reunions are not quite what you thought they’d be. But we get to read a little more about Clarry and meet brave Kate, fierce Ruby, kind Erik, loyal Hans, (plus the dog) and the adults who influenced them…
I read this over the end of 2023 and the start of 2024.