Back Home (novel)
| Author | Michelle Magorian |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's historical novel |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
|
Publication date
|
1984 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 384 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 10998796 |
| LC Class | PZ7.M275 Bac 1984 |
Back Home is a children's historical novel by Michelle Magorian, first published in 1984. The novel was adapted into a TV drama, Back Home (1990), starring Hayley Mills and Haley Carr, and again in 2001 starring Sarah Lancashire, Stephanie Cole and Jessica Fox.
Virginia 'Rusty' Dickinson is the main protagonist of the novel. The story centres on her return to England in 1945 from Connecticut, where she was sent as a child evacuee (aged 7) in 1939, when the war broke out.
Virginia left England as a timid and shy seven-year-old and has returned as an energetic and verbose 12-year-old. Much to her disappointment, Rusty finds England hidebound, run-down, boring and totally devoid of any decent food. Her mother, Peggy, is an awkward woman who, all her life, had been dominated by her parents, husband and mother-in-law. During the war, Peggy came out of her shell and became a skilled car mechanic. She is stiff and hurt when the Americanised Virginia returns home, having imagined her as still a little girl. Meanwhile, Rusty finds Peggy standoffish and cold, and harbours some resentment towards her for having sent her overseas in the first place.
However, Rusty does initially have one ally - the kindly and eccentric Beattie Langley, in whose Devon home her mother and brother have been staying throughout the war, before they return to the family home (Rusty and Charlie's grandmother's house) in Guildford. Beattie tries to explain to Rusty how Peggy has longed for her return and how much she has missed her, while advising Peggy to understand that Rusty has grown up and developed new skills which should be encouraged.
Rusty is initially rejected by her toddler brother, Charlie, who was born after she had been sent to America. She is baffled by the range and scale of rationing, rules she is not used to, and the people around her, and longs to return to her host family in Connecticut. Rusty struggles at first, often getting into arguments with Peggy, although Beattie helps her find a friend in local schoolgirl Beth. Her mother does not approve, as Beth swears, and the nearby school is considered strange as the children are happy whereas, Rusty notes, the English would prefer their children to study hard and have an unhappy school experience.
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