Stephen Hayes reviewed The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson
None
5 stars
A historical novel for children, [b:The Dragonfly Pool|2544359|The Dragonfly Pool|Eva Ibbotson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1319453762l/2544359.SY75.jpg|2965195] is set at the beginning of the Second World War. Tally Hamilton is the daughter of a doctor in a poor area of London, and war seemed increasingly likely she is given a scholarship to a boarding school in Devon, where her family think she will be safer from the expected air raids.
Tally goes reluctantly, especially when her snobby cousins tell her what their posh boarding school is like, but she discovers that it is quite different. It's a kind of progressive school where the children have a lot of freedom, and tally really enjoys it, and makes some good friends. She persuades the school to enter a folk-dancing competition in an obscure East European country threatened with a Nazi takeover, and Tally and her friends find themselves in a position to attempt to foil a …
A historical novel for children, [b:The Dragonfly Pool|2544359|The Dragonfly Pool|Eva Ibbotson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1319453762l/2544359.SY75.jpg|2965195] is set at the beginning of the Second World War. Tally Hamilton is the daughter of a doctor in a poor area of London, and war seemed increasingly likely she is given a scholarship to a boarding school in Devon, where her family think she will be safer from the expected air raids.
Tally goes reluctantly, especially when her snobby cousins tell her what their posh boarding school is like, but she discovers that it is quite different. It's a kind of progressive school where the children have a lot of freedom, and tally really enjoys it, and makes some good friends. She persuades the school to enter a folk-dancing competition in an obscure East European country threatened with a Nazi takeover, and Tally and her friends find themselves in a position to attempt to foil a plot against Prince Karil, who find the free English school children a refreshing change from stuffy court protocol. But the danger is real and they have to find a way to escape it.
Author [a:Eva Ibbotson|57462|Eva Ibbotson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1594950052p2/57462.jpg] was herself a refugee in a similar position, and also attended a school similar to the Delderton School in her story, and so her descriptions of the setting and events ring true, and gives the reader a feel of what it was like to be there.
There was a point, about two-thirds of the way through the book, where it felt as though some of the descriptions were overdone, and at that point I was thinking of giving it four stars, but it recovered again towards the end.