An eagle in the snow by Michael Morpurgo
Harper Collins, 2016. ISBN 9780008134150
(Age: 10+) Highly recommended. War, Historical fiction, Blitz, War
at home, World War One, World War Two. On the train traveling from
bombed out Coventry to London where Barney and his mother will catch
the train to Cornwall to stay with her sister, they are dogged by
German planes and take shelter in a tunnel. Here their companion in
the carriage tells them a story about a friend, one who showed great
courage during World War One, a man he calls Billy.
Thus Morpurgo, an iconic story teller relates the story of a real
decorated soldier, Henry Tandey, through a fictional tale fleshing
out the details and making it accessible to a younger audience.
Through Barney, Morpurgo tells his story from a distance, wanting
the listener to make up their own minds about this person, but at
the same time, using the eyes of a frightened ten year old, having
witnessed the horrors of Coventry when it was flattened in 1940. He
saw his whole street demolished, his neighbours scrabbling at the
rubble in the hope that someone was still alive, and was with his
grandfather when he found his working companion, his horse, dead.
The man in the carriage tells the story in the dark of the tunnel,
interrupted spasmodically by guards checking the passengers, and
Barney is entranced.
Billy was heroic, receiving awards for his bravery and in 1918,
leading two other men in an attack on a German post, overcoming and
taking twelve men prisoner. Billy's bravery was pushed by one
thought, to get the war over as soon as possible. He hated the
killing and waste of life, so when one German soldier refused to put
down his gun, Billy told the others not to shoot him, but let him go
home. But years later, when sitting watching the news footage in a
cinema, Billy sees who that soldier became: the new Fascist leader
of Germany, Hitler.
Morpurgo's story follows that of Henry Tandey in the main, showing
why this man was so brave but also showing the results of his good
turn which had dire consequences. In Morpurgo's hands the bare bones
of Tandey's life, becomes engrossing and rich, enabling young
readers to look at the idea of bravery, of the choices people make,
of the long term effects of war.
This is historical fiction at its very best.
Fran Knight