The book’s themes of grief, guilt, forgiveness and belonging are extremely powerful and will resonate with the reader. So too will the book’s underlying messages about courage, honesty and hope.

Nisha’s War,’ by Dan Smith. – Library Girl and Blog tour: ‘Nisha’s War,’ by Dan Smith. – Library Girl and

This is a perfect melding of the historical and the otherworldly which kept me utterly gripped throughout as danger creeps ever closer, time runs out, and secrets are uncovered. The evocation of wartime, of a sense of eeriness and of an isolated island are brilliantly portrayed. The loss of colour, warmth and hope in Nisha’s life following the invasion of her once-happy home is powerfully portrayed in the descriptions of the island, but hope has the chance of returning through her quest and her relationships with those she meets. This is a thrilling, engrossing wartime adventure: a story of family and friendship, of belonging and acceptance, and of loss and hope. I cannot wait to share this one with my class, and can highly recommend it to anyone of 9+. I'm going to be extremely greedy here and say I would love to illustrate The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Borrowers by Mary Norton and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. A great deal of my inspiration comes from classic stories and a duvet-cacoon of nostalgia. Do you have time to sketch for pleasure? Location is hugely important to the story; it’s a metaphor for Nisha’s mental well-being. Most of her memories of her home in Malaya are happy, warm, and full of love. She remembers Malaya in bright colours, which reflects her state of mind. In her journal, she writes about the evacuation from the plantation where she lives, and during that journey things change for her. When she reaches England, all the colour has gone from her world. Nisha has lost all hope and the setting reflects that. Barrow island is cold, grey, and harsh. The weather is dull. The nearby village is bland and confusing. The story is about Nisha learning to see the colours once more.Malaya, 1942.Nisha’s home is destroyed by war and she and her mother, Amma, flee to her father’s ancestral house in England, perched on a cliff top on the cold Northern coast. In Nisha, Dan has created a sympathetic and engaging female lead whom I rooted for from the start. There’s a fantastic cast of fully realised supporting characters too. Local lad Jamie, Land Girl Joy, kindly cook and housekeeper Mrs Foster and her husband Mr Foster and, of course, the formidable Mrs Barrow.

Review: Nisha’s War – Book Craic

Set in 1942 Nisha has escaped the terror of the Japanese invasion of Singapore. Missing the heat of home in Malaya, her grandmother’s house in the North of England seems especially cold and grey. Even the villagers are suspicious of a girl with brown skin who they can see is only half English.

When Amma falls gravely ill, Nisha is left to face her formidable grandmother alone. Grandmother’s rules are countless, and her Anglo-Indian granddaughter is even forbidden from climbing the old weeping tree. And finally, adventure seems to be at the heart of all your books, what’s the most adventurous thing you have done or would like to do??

Matthew Land Illustrates Historical Fiction for Chicken House

When I started writing the story, I didn’t have any particular themes in mind. But when I think about it now, there are so many! Loss, grief, displacement from home, friendship, love, empathy, understanding, hope, courage, race, kindness, acceptance … I could go on! For me, the stand-out themes are empathy, hope, and inclusivity, but hopefully readers will take from Nisha’s War whatever they need to take from it.Nisha is an incredibly sympathetic character whose life in Malaya is revealed through extracts from her ‘Truths’, a series of diary entries which tell of her life in Malaya and her traumatic escape from Singapore, haunted by her own ghosts which follow her to her new home. Learning about Nisha’s experiences as war tore her life apart was heart-breaking. She is a young girl who faces racism, loneliness and fear, but has the inner strength and courage to face that fear, to forgive, to accept and to heal her family. Whilst Nisha faces prejudice due to her Anglo-Indian heritage, she also forms some wonderful friendships, especially with a young boy, Jamie, who she meets whilst on a visit to the nearby village. I also really enjoyed the relationship which develops between Nisha and her grandmother which is incredibly heart-warming. Nisha’s War is a stunning, hauntingly atmospheric wartime adventure which swept me into a ghostly tale of loss, forgiveness and hope; a powerful depiction of the trauma caused by war and of healing within a family.