“The first words of a new book are so delicious—like the first taste of a cookie fresh from the oven and not yet properly cooled.”
A Place to Hang the Moon follows orphans Anna, Edmund and William, three siblings who—after the death of their grandmother who was their legal guardian—are evacuated to a village in the country for the duration of World War II to keep them out of harm’s way. Their grandmother’s solicitor comes up with a preposterous plan: since the children have no extended family, they should try to find a new family to “adopt” them during these temporary guardianships families take on for children displaced by the war. As the kids bounce from one family to the other, they experience cruelty, foolery and the cold reality of wartimes, seeking comfort in the only place they can: the little town’s library with its cozy interior and kind librarian Mrs. Müller. Faced with all kinds of troubles, the question is where the kids will find someone who will take them under their wings and treat them as if they’ve hung the moon…
Don’t mind me, I’m just busy clutching this book to my heart and dreaming about libraries and cookies. I had a hard time finishing A Place to Hang the Moon because I did not want this book to end, so I kept on drawing out the reading experience (just like Anna does with her only book she’s allowed to bring with her from home) just so I could spend more time in this immersive story and with these enchanting characters. William, Edmund and Anna’s troubles kept me glued to the page, desperate to find out what else might happen—the saying “it gets worse before it gets better” is literally what these children experience after being displaced. With every trickery they faced from foster brothers, grumbling stomachs that were the only sound in draughty rooms, this book became more and more unputdownable.
A huge part of that is Albus’ writing. It’s a difficult task to write a children’s book about World War II without droning on or trivialising the state of the world—Albus somehow manages to make descriptions of growling stomachs as relatable as listening to Churchill’s advice on the radio. When you read this book, you’re somehow transported back in time to an era that had a lot of hardships, but also the occasional glimmer of hope we all desperately need (considering what hardships we are facing in our time at the moment).
Another wonderful aspect of this book is the role the library—and the librarian Mrs. Müller—plays. The library immediately becomes a refuge for Anna, William and Edmund. When their guardians let them down, when bad things happen, they know they can always find shelter, kindness and most important of all, a shoulder to cry on at the library. This was just such a wholesome place and Mrs. Müller’s genuine affection for the children took my breath away.
I don’t want to spoil anything but let’s just say that A Place to Hang the Moon is a delightful read—yes, there will be times you’ll want to throw hands with those that would hurt these innocent children, there will be times you will want to weep alongside them, but in the end, everything works out just the way it’s supposed to—a happy ending everyone, including the reader, deserves after all the hardships in this novel.
Simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, A Place to Hang the Moon is an instant children’s classic that takes its deserved place in the top ranks alongside A Series of Unfortunate Events and Matilda.
A Place to Hang the Moon is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Set against the backdrop of World War II, Anna, Edmund, and William are evacuated from London to live in the countryside, bouncing from home to home in search of a permanent family.
It is 1940 and Anna, 9, Edmund, 11, and William, 12, have just lost their grandmother. Unfortunately, she left no provision for their guardianship in her will. Her solicitor comes up with a preposterous plan: he will arrange for the children to join a group of schoolchildren who are being evacuated to a village in the country, where they will live with families for the duration of the war. He also hopes that whoever takes the children on might end up willing to adopt them and become their new family–providing, of course, that the children can agree on the choice.
Moving from one family to another, the children suffer the cruel trickery of foster brothers, the cold realities of outdoor toilets, and the hollowness of empty tummies. They seek comfort in the village lending library, whose kind librarian, Nora Muller, seems an excellent candidate–except that she has a German husband whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Nevertheless, Nora’s cottage is a place of bedtime stories and fireplaces, of vegetable gardens and hot, milky tea. Most important, it’s a place where someone thinks they all three hung the moon. Which is really all you need in a mom, if you think about it.
Fans of The War That Saved My Life and other World War II fiction will find an instant classic in A Place to Hang the Moon.
