Saffy's angel Book

A LiveJournal friend introduced me to the novels of Hilary McKay. They are not fantasies or science fiction, and yet one of their attractions is that peculiar timelessness of certain types of family novels that center around kids, as written by English authors. Well, no, a few Americans have done them, though not many as far as I know. Elizabeth Enright being one. But anyway, they remind me of Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle and Antonia Forest's Marlows (note just how much used copies go for!). It's not that the characters live sunny lives full of fun and games, a la the delightful summers of Swallows and Amazons'the emotions can be quite harrowing, all the moreso because they resonate with truth. But at the core there is deep family love, and no attempt made to divide people into bad guys and good guys: just stories about delightfully quirky people trying to make sense of the world. And when the world tries to reshape one into conformity, there is the family ready to accept you back as you, with all your warts. Saffy's Angel begins with the Cassons when they are small, and one by one we get to know them, and their friends, and even the parents (who are not boring at all) in this lovely, lovely book and series.