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Solitaire

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BfK No. 175 - March 2009

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration by John Kelly is from Terry Deary’s new series Master Crook’s Crime Academy: Burglary for Beginners. Terry Deary is interviewed by Elizabeth Hammill. Thanks to Scholastic Children’s Books for their help with this March cover.

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Solitaire

Bernard Ashley
(Usborne Publishing Ltd)
352pp, 978-0746081372, RRP £5.99, Paperback
10-14 Middle/Secondary
Buy "Solitaire" on Amazon

This is a book with a very moral heart, which raises a lot of questions about man’s ability to make war and, worst of all, to profit from war. It is a slow burner which saves the main philosophical points for the end, but then the reader has the satisfaction of seeing where previous actions and events were actually leading.

It starts with a Robinson Crusoe vibe but that soon has a twist when the young, amnesiac castaway boy is sought out by a wealthy, powerful industrialist, convinced that here is a lost, beloved grandson. The latter’s motives appear very positive, but are they squarely based on guilt? To give any more will spoil the read.

This is a novel that gives the first impression of being a low-key affair, but seen in its entirety it is a very thought provoking and crafted work that deserves a wide audience.

Reviewer: 
David Bennett
3
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