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9781916000001

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This is an amazing book for readers young and old! The story of young Billy, whose mum was taken from him in an air raid, and whose dad was away at war, no one knew where. Billy, a spunky nine year old, was sent to live with his aunt, where he was nearly killed by his enraged uncle, and Billy set off to find his dad without much money, and even less idea how to go about it. It's a story of adventure and the best kind of love, that binds people together with hope and trust. I'd recommend this book to anyone from grammar school on up - it's a true gem! What a wonderful book. I absolutely loved it. Walking along with little Billy on his crutches was an enlightening experience. Amazingly there are many Billys who went through similar experiences during 'the war'. This book somehow gives you the hope that, they too, found a 'hapilly ever after'. Thank you.

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Although he is now 86, Tony Whelpton has written seven novels in the last six years. He has been writing books for nearly forty years, but turned to fiction late in life, and has been so successful that he wishes he had started earlier! He is the author of thirty or so school and college text books - mostly in French- as well as two books on cricket, and a history of the Cheltenham Bach Choir, of which he was elected Vice-President after retiring from singing at the age of 80. He was born in Hyson Green, Nottingham in January 1933, and was educated at St Mary's Junior School, High Pavement Grammar School (where he was taught English by novelist Stanley Middleton, winner of the 1974 Booker Prize), Goldsmiths College (University of London), Birkbeck College (University of London) and the University of Lille. He taught French for four years each at Beckenham & Penge Grammar School and Lowestoft Grammar School, then moved into Higher Education, ultimately becoming Principal Lecturer in French at Trent Polytechnic (later Nottingham Trent University), where he spent 17 years. For more than 25 years he was Chief Examiner in French at O and A Levels and also at GCSE for one of the largest examining boards in the UK. He is also an experienced journalist and broadcaster: he produced and presented the first ever schools programme on UK local radio, a French programme on BBC Radio Nottingham for junior schools, called Écoutez, les enfants! He has sung at the BBC Proms, he came second in the European Final of the World French Spelling Championships in 1990, and appeared on the prestigious television quiz Mastermind on BBC1 in 2009. Tony's attitude to life is that it is there for living and he believes that getting old is not an excuse for sitting around doing nothing; one of his favourite quotations comes from the French cellist Paul Tortelier: 'Everybody should die young - but as late in life as possible'. Now you understand why Tony is still writing!

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