The story follows brother and sister Clarry and Peter, growing up in Plymouth in the early 1900s with their father (their mother died after giving birth to Clarry), and holidaying in Cornwall during the summer holidays with their grandparents and their cousin Rupert. Their father doesn't have a good bond with them, always preferring to sit on his own in his study rather than talking to his children, so Clarry and Peter always desperately look forward to their summer jaunts by the sea. When not in Cornwall during the holidays, Rupert goes to boarding school, and Peter is told he must go too. He is adamantly against this, and takes drastic measures to make sure he doesn't have to go. However, in the long run his plan doesn't have much effect and off he goes. He does make a very close friend while there, Simon, who is also very much in awe of Rupert. While the boys are at boarding school, Clarry battles against the sexism of the time whereby young ladies weren't meant to have ambitions, or want to learn anything other than needlecraft and cookery. She's a strong-willed and independent girl, and stands up to her father to make sure she gets her way. However the First World War is soon upon them, and the rosy dreams of endless summer holidays and laughter is brought to an abrupt end. How will the war affect the children's friendship? And will they all survive it?
McKay is very clever at how she explains the horror and pain of the war in a realistic but not over-dramatic way. After all, her audience is young children aged 9-12, so they need to be told the facts, but not in a way to give them nightmares. It was educational concerning how females were treated at the time, and also about how people rallied around doing their bit for the war effort. I was slightly disappointed that there weren't more descriptive scenes about their surroundings in either Cornwall or Plymouth, the text was more conversational. However, saying that, I enjoyed the book, I loved all the characters (Simon's sister Vanessa was slightly over-enthusiastic for me!), and it was a moving and fast-paced story.
