![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I can see why this won the Whitbread Children's Book Award. It's a delightfully written tale set in rural Ireland and filled with music and whimsy (in an entirely good way). It's a visually impressive book with a new tune between each chapter.
Young JJ Liddy, following in his family's musical traditions, has little on his mind except music, school, music, growing up... and... (did I say?) music. He plays flute and fiddle, wins competitions and sits in on family ceilidhs. He's distraught to discover that his great-grandfather (and namesake) murdered a priest... or did he?
But there's even more to worry about. Time seems to be slipping away from everyone. No one, least of all JJ's Mum, can find enough time in the day to fit everything in. When JJ sets out to buy some time for his Mum for her birthday things get weird – because this is Ireland and fairies are real.
This is the start of a trilogy, but it's complete and satisfying in itself. (The other two books are set well into JJ's future.) It's a simple story, elegantly told with not a word wasted. Both worlds, the real one and the fairy one – are beautifully realised, but perhaps most noteworthy of all, it's the music that sets the tone for this novel and you can almost hear it leaking from the pages.
I've read the book, now, where's my pennywhistle?
Young JJ Liddy, following in his family's musical traditions, has little on his mind except music, school, music, growing up... and... (did I say?) music. He plays flute and fiddle, wins competitions and sits in on family ceilidhs. He's distraught to discover that his great-grandfather (and namesake) murdered a priest... or did he?
But there's even more to worry about. Time seems to be slipping away from everyone. No one, least of all JJ's Mum, can find enough time in the day to fit everything in. When JJ sets out to buy some time for his Mum for her birthday things get weird – because this is Ireland and fairies are real.
This is the start of a trilogy, but it's complete and satisfying in itself. (The other two books are set well into JJ's future.) It's a simple story, elegantly told with not a word wasted. Both worlds, the real one and the fairy one – are beautifully realised, but perhaps most noteworthy of all, it's the music that sets the tone for this novel and you can almost hear it leaking from the pages.
I've read the book, now, where's my pennywhistle?
