I love Wilson’s books. They helped my granddaughter come to terms with her parents’ breakup as she was able to read about other children facing the same devastating issue. We also started the awesome Hetty Feather books, set in Victorian England, so when I saw this offering on Netgalley, I pounced on it with glee…
Clover Moon’s imagination is her best escape from a life of hardship in poverty-stricken Victorian London. When tragedy plunges her into a world of grief, Clover realizes that everything she loved about the place she called home is gone. Clover hears of a place she could run to, but where will she find the courage – and the chance – to break free? And could leaving her family be just what she needs to find a place that really feels like home?
I came to this book with high expectations and I wasn’t disappointed. Clover is a spirited, tough little girl living in a Victorian slum, spending her days looking after her younger brothers and sisters and cooking and cleaning alongside her abusive step-mother, Mildred. Her character pings off the page as we learn of her daily life, busy entertaining the smaller children and her spirits and vivid imagination often getting her into a great deal of trouble. Back in Victorian times, that meant beatings. And Clover gets more than her fair share of those.
However, Wilson has perfectly judged the tone. Clover could so easily have become a victimised, downtrodden little waif, undernourished, poorly dressed and dirty as she is. But she’s as tough as nails, not averse to scrapping for what she needs and in her own words, regularly lies to avoid getting into trouble.
I picked up this book, intending to read a couple of chapters before putting it back down and then getting on with my work. Only I didn’t. It simply would not be put down – the story gripped me and wouldn’t let go until the end. Wilson takes me right into the heart of Victorian England and having studied history as part of my teaching degree, I would have become quickly irritated if the facts and depiction had jarred. They didn’t. Like the companion books about Hetty Feather, Wilson has clearly immersed herself in this period and every character bounced off the page and into my imagination.
I’m not the target audience for this book, being too old by far too many decades – but if you are ever looking for a book to make the Victorian era fully spring to life for children between the ages of nine and twelve, then I recommend Clover Moon. And for fans of Hetty Feather, she also makes a brief appearance in this page-turner, too. A useful, informative addition – at the back of the book are some facts about how children lived in Queen Victoria’s reign, a potted history of how child protection gradually became law and details of how children today can contact Childline. This book is highly recommended and the fact this arc was provided by the publisher via NetGalley has not affected my honest opinion of Clover Moon.
9/10
Brainfluff 