etc.

Daisy gets sent to live in England (by her wicked step-mother) with her aunt and cousins and almost as soon as she gets there, her aunt leaves for Norway and war breaks out. Daisy & her four cousins (& assorted dogs and farm animals) are left to fend for themselves and, at first, they fend just fine, but soon, the reality of a not-so-distant war invades their little utopia and things just start to go bad from there.

This is a quick but thoroughly haunting read. I very much liked how Daisy’s narrative voice matures as the story develops, from glib to almost wise. There are elements, however, that I found a bit unsettling for a YA novel (that’s all I’ll say about that for fear of giving too much away). There were a number of YA “issues” (eating disorder, coming of age, etc.) that weren’t dealt with as cohesively as they are in other YA novels, but I almost didn’t mind the irresolution because it kept the novel from being too obviously didactic, which is an easy trap to fall into when writing for a young audience. Overall, an enjoyable read.