



The Silent Stars Go By
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- £2.49
Publisher Description
‘Bittersweet perfection’ Guardian, Best Books of the Year
‘An engulfing historical novel’ The Times, Best Books of the Year
‘A festive classic in the making’ Observer, Best Books of the Year
Nominated for the Carnegie Medal
Three years ago, Margot’s life was turned upside down when her fiancé, Harry, went missing in action on the Western Front. Worse, she was left with a devastating secret which threatened to ruin her life and destroy the reputation of her family. As a respectable vicar’s daughter, Margot has had to guard that secret with great care ever since, no matter how much pain it causes her.
Now it’s Christmas 1919, and Margot’s family is gathering back home in the vicarage for the first time since the end of the Great War. And miraculously Harry has returned, hoping to see Margot and rekindle their romance. Can Margot ever reveal the shocking truth to the only man she has ever loved?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Nicholls's (All Fall Down) emotionally layered historical novel, set in 1919 after WWI, 19-year-old Margot Allen grapples with feelings of regret surrounding an unplanned pregnancy while navigating her family as they converge on their Yorkshire vicarage at Christmastime. When Margot was 16, her then-19-year-old fiancé Harry Singer went off to war; shortly thereafter, he was reported missing in action, and Margot discovered she was pregnant. To avoid social disgrace, she was secretly sent off to a mother-and-baby home to deliver her son, James, who was then raised by her parents and siblings as her brother. Now 19 and returning home from a secretarial course in Durham, Margot suffers from her vicar father's disapproval, feels as if her internalized indignity alienates her from her tight knit siblings, and tries to avoid Harry, who survived as a POW before finally returning to Yorkshire. While Margot and Harry's chemistry proves palpable, and their series of romantic misunderstandings provide tension, it's Margot's longing for James, the strain of her perceived shame, and her desire for forgiveness that underpins this deeply resonant post-war tale. All characters cue as white. Ages 14–up.