This book is one of those rare middle grade gems set after WWI and features how the children left behind, who lost in some cases their entire families, coped.
The main character, Ben, lives on the Sparrowhawk. It’s a houseboat, with a flat bottom, intended only to travel the relatively gentle locks and canals that make up the English countryside’s transportation system. WWI took Ben’s older brother, who is missing and presumed dead in battle in France. Because his father has also passed away, Ben tries to fool the local authorities into thinking his older brother will return soon. But deep down, he knows that isn’t the case. And he’s headed for an orphanage if his deception is discovered.
Enter Lotti, a young girl who lives with an abusive aunt and uncle who are using her for her deceased parents’ fortune. She spots and liberates a little abused and neglected dog from a local crime magnate. But she can’t keep the dog safe if she goes off to boarding school, as her aunt and uncle intend.
Ben’s boat is a fantastic hiding place for all three. Until a local constable figures out that Ben’s older brother is not coming home, and Lotti’s aunt and uncle and the crime lord come looking for her.
With all these adults hot on their heels, the kids make a pivotal decision: to untie the Sparrowhawk and cross the Channel and "sail" to France (the boat has no sails). They have no experience sailing (boating?) and little to sustain them other than their hope. Lotti hopes to find her grandmother to escape her aunt and uncle for good, and Ben secretly hopes his older brother is alive and he'll find him, once they get to France.
The constable tracking them is no Sherlock Holmes, but the kids leave a pretty obvious trail of where they’re headed.
I won’t reveal how it ends, just know there were tears. Pull up a box of tissues for this one. Enjoy.
