CHILDREN OF THE DALE by Elizabeth Blenkharn, £9
ISBN 978-1-904524953

 

This children’s book featuring life on an Eden farm in the Second World War takes us back to a time of innocence.

In style and characterisation – the book features brother and sister Tim and Tess and later introduces their cousins Robert and Jane – there is a distinctive echo of the Famous Five books of Enid Blyton.

The story is set in the Upper Eden Valley and features prominent landmarks such as Pendragon Castle in Mallerstang.

Unlike the Famous Five adventures, which have one evolving plot, each of the ten chapters in Children of the Dale tells a different story.

The author, who worked as an auxiliary nurse in Penrith, drew on her own experiences of wartime England – she was just six-years-old when war broke out. This is her first book.