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A review by foggy_rosamund
The Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay
4.0
Hilary McKay is one of the best writer's of children's literature that I've ever read. Her stories are quietly enlightening, moving, and very funny. She captures the tumultuous and complex nature of family life in such assured, subtle strokes that she makes it look easy. But scratching beneath the surface, you realise how much McKay conveys in a very short space of time. Short story writers for adults could learn a lot from her. This is a wonderful novel from McKay: it features the blended family of Abi and her father, Theo, an A & E nurse, and his partner, Polly, and her two sons, Max and Louis. Abi is used to living with Theo and her grandmother, Grace, but after Theo marries Polly, Grace returns to her home in Jamaica. Abi feels adrift, and finds solace in books, but begins to feel better when the family to move to a rambling, impractical house, covered in ivy. This is the house of green magic, in which real creatures can slip from the pages of books, and books can allow their readers to travel through time.
It's an imaginative and beautifully told story. Abi, Louis and Theo are all very real, as are the feelings of wonder and loneliness. McKay's prose is simple, but often very beautiful. I was drawn in to this book and didn't want to stop reading it. That said, I was disappointed by the ending, which felt rushed, and I wanted a little more expansiveness in the resolution of the magical problems, and in the completion of the character arcs. In reading it, I was thinking about McKay's earlier book Indigo's Star, and how satisfactorily she resolves all the character's stories there. That being said, this is an excellent novel, and one I recommend, especially if you're looking for solace.
It's an imaginative and beautifully told story. Abi, Louis and Theo are all very real, as are the feelings of wonder and loneliness. McKay's prose is simple, but often very beautiful. I was drawn in to this book and didn't want to stop reading it. That said, I was disappointed by the ending, which felt rushed, and I wanted a little more expansiveness in the resolution of the magical problems, and in the completion of the character arcs. In reading it, I was thinking about McKay's earlier book Indigo's Star, and how satisfactorily she resolves all the character's stories there. That being said, this is an excellent novel, and one I recommend, especially if you're looking for solace.