The Swallows' Flight by Hilary McKay

Ruby lives in a little home above the newsagents' shop in Plymouth. Her days are spent wishing her brother Will didn't exist, and trying to forget about the birthmarks across her face. 

Kate lives with her cozy, crowded family in Oxford. She acts invisible, but really she's absorbing everything around her.

Erik and Hans live in Berlin, dreaming of a future working at the Berlin Zoo (Erik) or a pastry stall (Hans). They're best friends who don't need to say something to understand one another.

None of these children expected to be caught up in the middle of a world war. Ruby and Kate never expected their families to be torn apart by the violence that spreads over Europe, and Erik and Hans never expected to be flying with the German army, instructed to kill people they've never even met. The story of how these four children find each other and their places in the middle of a world war is at once heartwarming and tear jerking. 

 

I was looking through old posts today and realized that I never got around making a post for this book, which I read almost a year ago. This is one of my absolute favorites, so I immediately felt deep shame and rushed to mend my mistake. I re-read The Swallows' Flight over Thanksgiving and it was just as beautiful as the first read. I love Hilary McKay's writing style; it's very unique, which is refreshing as I feel that a lot of the books I read use a similar style. The use of carefully crafted dialogue combined with tiny moments that are somehow filled with importance give this book, and all of Hilary's, a special feeling. And the characters are so precious; by the end of the book, you feel as though they're your friends from a different life. The Swallows' Flight somehow manages to be joyful while delivering details of life during a world war. Overall, I highly recommend. 

The Swallows' Flight is technically the sequel to The Skylarks' War (also published as Love to Everyone), but I read Swallows first and as the protagonists/time period are different, it can be read by itself. (Though The Skylarks' War is also wonderful so I'd recommend that as well).