Changes

Will and Christina have run away together, not least to get away from the very tense situation at Flambards. But this is 1912 so Christina is taken chastely to her aunt's house and before long Will leaves to look for a job. They know that it's going to be years before they can marry as Christina's Uncle Russell - who's also Will's father has said that he won't give consent to the marriage whilst there's breath in his body. Christina is left to help her aunt in her dressmaking business, but it's not long before she has a job close to where Will is working.

It's a superb book. The fact that it's a ''sequel'' and still managed to win the Carnegie medal should tell you all that you need to know on that score. The characters are all wonderfully drawn: Christina is independent, a young woman working to earn her living, but she's capable of being naive on occasions. She loves Will and he certainly cuts a dashing figure, but he's reckless and not all that caring about Christina or anyone else for that matter. They're ''real'' people rather than hero and heroine of a story.