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| Publisher's Hardcover ©2018 | -- |
World War, 1939-1945. Scotland. Juvenile fiction.
Loggers. Juvenile fiction.
World War, 1939-1945. Scotland. Fiction.
Loggers. Fiction.
A teen lumbergirl finds wartime romance in the Scottish Highlands. It's 1942. Seventeen-year-old Margaret "Maisie" McCall sees joining in Great Britain's war effort as an honorable excuse to leave her unhappy home, but since she's too young for the armed services, she signs up for the Women's Timber Corps and becomes a lumberjill. Two weeks into her training she meets a man named John Lindsay at a local dance—he's physically attractive and initially seems kind, but he's clumsy and storms off before their dance is complete. A month later, in her remote first post in the Scottish forest camp of Auchterblair, Speyside, she runs into John again—he's a lumberjack nearby. Weeks into a somewhat awkward romance, Maisie discovers that John has a prosthetic leg, which he's somehow managed to hide from most of his fellow corpsman despite sharing a dormitory with them. Their romance proceeds despite John's basic unlikability. The story unfolds from Maisie's point of view but is told more than shown; the characters feel emotionally inconsistent, and the flat story arc provides little suspense. In alignment with the time and location, it follows a white default. An interesting setting and good use of historical details aren't, in the end, enough to hold reader interest.(Historical fiction. 12-18)
School Library Journal (Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)Gr 9 Up-It's 1942 and Glasgow native Maisie McCall leaves her home to work as a lumberjill in the Scottish Women's Timber Corps. Maisie has a lot to learn. As she and her fellow lumberjills navigate the forests of Scotland, Maisie meets John, a mysterious Canadian lumberjack who will change her life forever. With her axe by her side, Maisie tackles new challenges, develops new relationships, and embarks on new adventureseven finding herself on the silver screen. This book seems like a great fit for any teenager who is looking for a YA Outlander readalike or romantic historical romp. However, they will be sadly disappointed. The romance between John and Maisie feels contrived. The protagonist is fully realized, but as her relationships continueespecially her connections to her family membersthey seem to lack a natural development and progression. While the book takes place in Scotland, there are very few reminders of this, and readers will become easily lost in a swampy setting with lots of details about time but not place. VERDICT A strictly additional purchase for collections that have a great need for historical fiction. Maryjean Bakaletz, Morris County Library, Whippany, NJ
Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)Maisie McCall is lonely when she first leaves home to harvest much-needed timber for the war effort in Scotland's Women's Timber Corps. Soon she's made as many friends as she has calluses on her hands--and she's fallen in love with a wounded Canadian soldier. Leech's somewhat slow fictionalized account of Scottish "lumberjills" during WWII also explores the complexity of forming a relationship with someone coming to terms with a disability.
ALA Booklist (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)As WWII rages on, Maisie McCall leaves a judgmental family behind to join up with the Women's Timber Corps as a lumberjill, felling trees in the Scottish Highlands while the men are at war. As she learns to swing an ax and haul lumber, soft and quiet Maisie discovers strengths she never knew she had and forges fast friendships with the girls she meets. She befriends men as well, including John Lindsay, an enigmatic Canadian with the soul of a poet, who refuses to dance on nights out and loses his temper when he's teased for not wearing a soldier's uniform. Maisie and John grow closer despite his walls, but it's not until a logging accident that Maisie truly begins to understand why John keeps her at a distance. WWII romances are not uncommon, but this particular backdrop logging camp in the Scottish Highlands not often portrayed, and is likely to intrigue readers. A slow-burning, character-driven exploration of the lingering scars left by war.
Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal (Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)
Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)
ALA Booklist (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)
“A glowing story of friendship, growth, and a steadfast first love, as teenage Maisie negotiates the forests of the heart and of World War II Scotland with equal determination.” —Elizabeth Wein, New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Verity
A romantic historical YA novel featuring strong female characters from the acclaimed author of Wait for Me.
It’s 1942, and as the war rages in Europe, Maisie McCall is in the Scottish Highlands swinging an axe for the Women’s Timber Corps. Maisie relishes her newfound independence working alongside other lumberjacks—including the mysterious John Lindsay.
As Maisie and John work side by side felling trees together, Maisie can’t help but feel that their friendship has the spark of something more to it. And yet every time she gets close to him, John pulls away. It’s not until Maisie rescues John from a terrible logging accident that he begins to open up to her about the truth of his past, and the pain he’s been hiding.
Suddenly everything is more complicated than Maisie expected. And as she helps John untangle his shattered history, she must decide if she’s willing to risk her heart to help heal his. But in a world devastated by war, love might be the only thing left that can begin to heal what’s broken.