Giveaway: Hilary McKay's Skylarks' War

We are offering a school book group or class ten copies of Hilary McKay's latest book, Skylarks' War (Macmillan Children's Books), which explores what happens to siblings and their friends as they grow up and WW1 begins.

To enter the free draw for your school book group or class, email your school's details to: [email protected] Subject - Skylarks' War Your school will be entered for the free draw which will close on 10th October. Winners will be notified. THE SKYLARK'S WAR follows three children, Clarry, Peter and Rupert, as they leave behind their childhoods and move into adulthood, just as World War One begins. A classic in the making, it is a perceptive and touching story that explores friendship and love, education and gender, and how a war can change so dramatically individual lives and the fabric of a society. We asked author HILARY MCKAY to tell us more about THE SKYLARKS' WAR: Q: How did writing The Skylarks' War compare with your previous books, especially writing an historical fiction novel? A: The historical background was a great help, it gave me an immediate depth to the story. The fact that I could research the setting from the landmark dates of the time, down to the smallest detail of dress and domestic life, was very empowering. It gave such a secure base for the story that I felt almost as if I was working with a team, rather than the usual solitary writing experience. I have done a bit of historical fiction before. I wrote a short novel about the Iceni a few years ago, which I enjoyed doing so much that I plan to turn it into a full length story. I also wrote a novel called Wishing For Tomorrow (rubbish title, not of my choosing!) a sequel to Frances Burnett's A Little Princess, which of course had an historical setting of Edwardian London. Q: Why did you decide to set the story in the run-up to WW1, is it a period that has always interested you or was your interest drawn by this year's anniversary? A: It is a period that has always interested me, and I have read a good deal about the subject over the years. In 2015 I published a story (Binny in Secret) that had a WW1 sub plot. I found the sub plot so much more interesting than the main story that I planned The Skylarks' War from that time onwards. Q: You provide a book list showing what you read for your research - did any books stand out and was there anything that surprised you during the course of your research? A: The Henry Williamson stood out, but I have been a huge fan of his Flax of Dream and Chronicles of Ancient Sunlight sequences ever since I was at university, so I can't say they were a surprise. For social history they are a treasure trove. The Army and Navy Stores price lists were wonderful, the original copies of The Times newspaper and magazines also. Q: Was it also important to you to show during the novel how the war affected those left at home? A: Yes, very important. I don't know which is worst, knowing that people you love are suffering, or having hard times yourself. I don't think there is much in it personally. It must have been so hard to have someone close to you fighting. Q: The Skylarks' War follows Clarry and Peter as they grow up, go to school and how the war affects them all as teenagers and young adults. Why did you decide to cover such a long period in their lives? A: I agree, it was a long period. Perhaps it should have been two books. I had to put in the pre-war years, both to give a context of what was about to change for ever in the world at large, and also to explain the actions of the main characters as the war years took over their lives. The post war chapter or two was plain self indulgence - I wanted to know what happened to them all afterwards. I got very fond of Clarry and Peter and their friends by the end. Q: Can you tell us about how you decided on the style of the the narrative? A: I used dialogue to progress the personal narrative quite a lot. When it came to describing eg. the situation on the Western Front, I deliberately took a step back from personal narrative to give a more detached point of view. To take out the involvement of the narrator, and just give the plain (appalling) statistics to the reader and leave the rest to their imagination, is a useful device. It's like holding up a picture and asking, 'Now, what do you make of this?' You are no longer telling the reader what to think, you are involving them directly. They are given a situation. They can make their own assessments. On stage you might call it audience participation, I suppose. Q: Clarry and Peter - who have lost their mother and whose father is hopeless and largely absent - are sent away for holidays and Peter to boarding school. Are their childhoods fairly typical of this class at this time? A: Yes, fairly I think. Not with their father, I hope. I hope such a miserable parent was unusual. But I think fathers in general were much more detached from children's lives, I think boarding school was not so unusual as it is now. I don't think holidays with grandparents is much of a surprise though, I know several modern families that turn to grandparents for summer holiday childcare. Q: You explore through their lives the limited aspirations, and opportunities, for girls and women in a world so dominated by male patriarchy. What would you like today's readers to take away from this? A: I would like the girls to think, as my characters did (Mrs Morgan, Clarry, Vanessa and Violet) that they have as much ability and right to follow their ambitions as any boy. That anyone who tries to limit them because they happen to be female is wrong. And I would like the boys to think, 'Absolutely! Why not? Was there ever any doubt?' Q: The focus on the relationships in the book is strong friendships through life that grow into love. Do you feel that this kind of relationship can be overlooked in books for young people? A: No. I don't. I never thought it was overlooked. The friendships in my life have always been that way. Q: War looms as the friends in the book become young adults. I wondered how hard it was to get that balance of reminding readers of the horrors of war without providing too much detail? And why did you decide to take The Skylarks' War - from the battlefields - as the title? A: I think I provided quite a lot of detail actually. I've already read a review or two that have said, not for the very young. Also I have left pauses for imagination to fill in the blanks. There is a brutal death of a friend that I found quite distressing to write. Skylarks! I love skylarks! They battle with song alone. They stick to their territories. They fly so high above the fields and meadows that they are invisible against the bright sky, and you would not know they were there but for their song. I read an account written a few years after the battle of the Somme. It was written to comfort someone, and it said that now there were skylarks singing, and meadow flowers. They are a symbol of hope, and summer. They sing their same unmistakable-for-any-other-bird song all over Europe and beyond. Q: You write a lot of series following specific characters; is it the character that draw your attention as an author? A: No, not really. Circumstances have led me to writing sequels to books that I originally never intended to have a sequel. Q: Where do you write and what is your favourite time for writing? And your favourite escape from writing? A: I write at home, in a cold converted garage. It still has the original garage spiders and very little insulation, so it takes quite a few hot water bottles to get me through a working day. Which goes from late morning, after the dog is walked, to late evening. I am a terribly slow writer. Escape? What escape? There is no escape? Q: What are you working on now? I am writing a time slip book about prehistoric cave paintings, the growth of fear, the power of books, and kindness. It has a setting of ivy, spiders and autumn chill. It's called Iffen and so far I love it.