The Children of Swallow Fell by Julia Green

The Children of Swallow Fell Reviews

• 
  Adam Murphy

  
  
  Everything changes. The premise of
  The Children of Swallow Fell by
  Julia Green reminded me of a high-concept dystopian-esque novel that felt closer to home (especially in the world we’re continuing to live at the moment) while continuing to be a fleshed-out moment of history.
  
  Following the story of Isabella & her father who try seek to escape the war in Italy through a desperate train journey across Europe, Isabella’s father has not returned to England & his family’s stone house for years. Now it lies musty from neglect. It appears that during his absence, a lot has changed; primarily a brutal disease that shut everything down, so there is no sign of life. Once Isabella encounters two children, hidden from the authorities. Could these three team up, learn from each other, trade and grow & support each other? After an injury, it will be necessary & after that when Isabella’s father ventures out & does not return. 
  
  The zigzagging of locations between Italy & England were very well-written & very well played out in terms of colour between gloomy England & the sunny Italy. It kind of echoes the diversity & mood of the story. We are witnessing the world for the first time as if we the reader were in the children’s shoes. The hopefulness from its setting, to the children’s actions & resolve, is just heartening to readers of all ages.
• 
  Caroline Fosse

  This was such a special and different book, I'm surprised it's not talked about more to be honest.
• 
  BookBairn

  What a fascinating story and I haven't read anything like it for kids before! A dystopian back-to-nature book this certainly appealed to me and I found the characters incredibly engaging. I wish there had been a bit more exploration of 'what happened before' but I think that's often the way with dystopian reads and especially in a children's book. Also the 'illness' that spread and killed all the adults felt a bit too close to home at the moment! (Not a criticism there but perhaps a trigger for people although it's not explored in much depth thank goodness! That would be too close to home.) A really wonderful read!
• 
  Ms Warner

  This was my first book of 2021! I’m determined to review each book this year as a way to help me remember them better. 2020 was a blur of books!
  
  This is a simplistic story of Isabella and her father escaping their war-ravaged town in Italy and heading to his home town in north England which has been emptied due to a mysterious sickness gah swept the town years ago.
  
  Isabella meets a few other children and learns to fend for herself while her father tries to get food and more supplies. I love the children in the wilderness idea and the focus really WAS the natural environment but there were just so many unanswered questions! What was the war? What was the sickness? Why couldn’t her mum and sister get through? Where did dad go? I really thought this was setting up for a sequel and I thought that could have been cool- kids surviving and eking out an existence in an abandoned country but nope. It all wrapped up really quickly and was done!
  
• 
  Sarah Driver

  A beautiful, truthful, unflinching story that does justice to the resourcefulness and courage of the young. Sparely written, allowing the beauty of nature to sing from the page, this book is a masterclass in writing the wild. It is a beautiful portrayal of an intimate, reciprocal, healing relationship with place.
• 
  sgh

  A really interesting and unique children’s book, touching on themes of environmentalism, refugees and home. I was expecting something totally different (I thought it was about WW2 from the blurb!) but I enjoyed it a lot. Really fast paced and a great example of first person writing. My one qualm was that I didn’t love the ending, but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment too much!
• 
  Hannah

  Beautifully written
• 
  Holly

  I have put this book 5 stars because I can't decide whether to do 4 or 5 stars. I think that it would probably be 4.5 or 4.6 so that is why I did 5. It is brilliant!
• 
  Kathryn Miller

  Superb; strikingly good and unusual in recent publishing. Masterfully evoking a complex set of feelings throughout - the joy and pain of growth.
  
  It reminded me in some ways of How I Live Now - a powerful mix of British apocalypse and fairytale.
  
  
  Spoilers:
  
  
  It barely falls short of a full five stars for me, by the end not quite seeming to answer the story that has been built. A full happy ending and the return of adults felt like it let the air out of the want/need character story a bit, and some of the wider ideas. I think I would have preferred an ambiguous ending, perhaps leaving off where Isabella is running to meet the car. But perhaps that would be a hard ending for younger readers.