Feather

Manon Steffan Ros has been writing in her native Welsh for both children and adults for some time, and gathering awards, but this is only the third children’s book she has translated into English, following the Carnegie-winning success of the first, the remarkable Blue Book of Nebo. This is a slimmer book, aimed at children of about the same age as twelve-year-old Huw, who is having to come to terms with his beloved Nan’s dementia. The book takes place in a single summer holiday, six weeks when Nan is moved from her own home into a local nursing home, as her grip on reality loosens and the past and present become confused in her mind. This confusion leads to Nan’s preoccupation with the troubling memory of her long-lost brother Johnny and introduces the book’s second theme, as Huw and new friend, bookish Clare, seek to unravel the mystery of what happened to Huw’s great uncle. This turns out to be a real tragedy, connected to the impact on the family of the twentieth century’s two World Wars, which can be resolved only in the sense that it is recovered and Nan is given some peace. It also gives Huw the strength to try to build a better relationship with his dad, particularly as he no longer has Nan’s emotional support. There’s a lot going on in this novel’s small space, and Ros brings it all together expertly in Huw’s quiet first-person, self-deprecating narrative.