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Back Home
Rusty Dickinson was sent to the United States from England at the age of seven in 1940 to survive the war. When she returns in 1945, she finds a country and a family she neither understands nor likes, and vice versa.
375 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
52 people are currently reading
1189 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Magorian
26 books350 followersBritish children's author Michelle Magorian - author of the celebrated Goodnight, Mr. Tom (1981), which won The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize - was born in Southsea, Portsmouth, in 1947. She trained to be an actress, studying at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, and at Marcel Marceau's L'école Internationale de Mime in Paris. While pursuing an acting career, Magorian became interested in children's books, writing her first novel for young readers (Goodnight, Mr. Tom) over the course of four and a half years.
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January 8, 2024
“…they hate my accent.”
“Perhaps if you made an effort to lose it, they’d be more friendly.”
“But I’d still be the same person, so what’s the difference?”
Got me feel like “you and you and you and you! Stop harassing the child!”
So much reality in the writing. Sadly, most of the things or events mentioned in the story are still happening.
Also this:
“Trouble with me is, the more he beats me, the more miserable I feel and the slower I get.”
It’s never okay to harm and hurt someone.
I am sorry for I wouldn’t be writing longer for this review (if this can be called a review) because I had a difficult time reading this book and do not want to be sad again writing about it.
“Perhaps if you made an effort to lose it, they’d be more friendly.”
“But I’d still be the same person, so what’s the difference?”
Got me feel like “you and you and you and you! Stop harassing the child!”
So much reality in the writing. Sadly, most of the things or events mentioned in the story are still happening.
Also this:
“Trouble with me is, the more he beats me, the more miserable I feel and the slower I get.”
It’s never okay to harm and hurt someone.
I am sorry for I wouldn’t be writing longer for this review (if this can be called a review) because I had a difficult time reading this book and do not want to be sad again writing about it.
March 16, 2011
Michelle Magorian is probably best known for her excellent book Goodnight, Mr. Tom, but she also wrote several other World War II novels for adolescent readers. One of those other books is Back Home.
It begins in the summer of 1945. The war is over and 12 year old Virginia Dickinson is returning to England. Virginia had been a scared, timid 7 year old when she was evacuated to an American family in Connecticut. Five years have passed and she is confident 12 year old who now goes by the name Rusty, the nickname her American family gave her because of her red hair. Rusty isn’t very happy about her return. She barely knows her own mother, who is now a talented mechanic with the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS.) She has a four year old brother Charlie that she has never met and who dislikes Rusty from the beginning. And, she has acquired an American accent, which is greeted with disdain and she is constantly told that she must lose it.
Rusty is temporarily taken to Devon, where her mother and brother have been living with an elderly woman named Beatie. There she meets Beth Hatherly, a girl whose own family seems to resemble the rather bohemian American family Rusty stayed with. She is just beginning to enjoy herself in Devon, when she, her mother and brother move back to her grandmother’s house in London. For Rusty, the move is again temporary, she has been enrolled in a girls’ boarding school, Benwood House, in part to become re-anglicized and hopefully to help her lose her accent.
Rusty’s paternal grandmother is strict, critical and condescending. She intensely dislikes Rusty’s accent, her confidence and her behavior. She also feels Charlie is too coddled by her daughter-in-law and needs to learn to behave like a big boy.
But, if living in her grandmother’s felt like hell on earth, boarding school is worse. Benwood House is definitely not the Chalet School. It is cold, unfriendly, condescending and highly critical of Rusty’s American experience and, of course, the ‘despicable’ accent. Everything Rusty does seems to result in a mark against her and her house, which has the unfortunate name Butt House.
One day, on a trip into town, Rusty overhears some boys calling one member of their group Yank, and she begins talking to him, not realizing that speaking to boys is against the rules. For this infraction, Rusty receives a discipline mark and is called up in front of the whole school and publicly humiliated. The next day she receives the sad news that Beatie has died. Feeling sad and alone, that night, Rusty discovers that she can climb down some scaffolding outside her window, and escape into the woods surrounding the school, feeling free for the first time since arriving in England. She manages to get a note to Yank on her next visit to town, telling him where and when to meet her that night.
The boy, Lance, shows up and they continue to meet at night, exploring and talking. Eventually, they find a bombed out house and Rusty begins to decorate it with the carpentry, painting and stenciling skills she learned in the US. Gradually, however, Lance begins to be accepted by the boys in his school, while things only get worse for Rusty, especially after her father returns home from the army.
It is clear that Rusty’s parents have grown apart during the five years of war. Her mother has become quite independent and refuses to give that up even though she is expected to by both her husband and his mother. Rusty, who has been coming home on weekends, is told by him that she will remain in school from now on. This is unbearable and when Rusty returns to school after Christmas vacation, she decides to run away.
Back Home is not just a war story; it is also a classic misfit come of age story. The level of bullying and intolerance directed at Rusty was, well, almost intolerable as a reader. The girls at school seemed to think she had it easy in the states, while they were left to live through the war in a much more up close and personal way; others resented her open, friendly American ways, and her more colorful, stylish American clothing. This theme of bullying and intolerance is still relevant in today’s world, especially given the fact that there seems to be, probably not in increase in bullying, but rather a crueler, more public presence of it, thanks to social media.
Her mother wanted Rusty to be the same little girl she was before she was evacuated. Her father and grandmother expected Rusty to conform to their idea of a proper English young lady and cast off her five years in the US as though they were nothing more than worn out old socks. Rusty and her mother have to learn to accept that they have changed and to be true to themselves, not what others wanted them to be.
But can a leopard change its spots? Maybe, maybe not.
I also thought Back Home was a very good example of an aspect of evacuation that, really, I haven’t run into before and I wonder how many kids returned home to find the same kind of difficulties Rusty faced.
As always, Magorian has crafted a well written story and one that I would highly recommend. It is by no means the tear jerker that Goodnight Mr. Tom is, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling.
It begins in the summer of 1945. The war is over and 12 year old Virginia Dickinson is returning to England. Virginia had been a scared, timid 7 year old when she was evacuated to an American family in Connecticut. Five years have passed and she is confident 12 year old who now goes by the name Rusty, the nickname her American family gave her because of her red hair. Rusty isn’t very happy about her return. She barely knows her own mother, who is now a talented mechanic with the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS.) She has a four year old brother Charlie that she has never met and who dislikes Rusty from the beginning. And, she has acquired an American accent, which is greeted with disdain and she is constantly told that she must lose it.
Rusty is temporarily taken to Devon, where her mother and brother have been living with an elderly woman named Beatie. There she meets Beth Hatherly, a girl whose own family seems to resemble the rather bohemian American family Rusty stayed with. She is just beginning to enjoy herself in Devon, when she, her mother and brother move back to her grandmother’s house in London. For Rusty, the move is again temporary, she has been enrolled in a girls’ boarding school, Benwood House, in part to become re-anglicized and hopefully to help her lose her accent.
Rusty’s paternal grandmother is strict, critical and condescending. She intensely dislikes Rusty’s accent, her confidence and her behavior. She also feels Charlie is too coddled by her daughter-in-law and needs to learn to behave like a big boy.
But, if living in her grandmother’s felt like hell on earth, boarding school is worse. Benwood House is definitely not the Chalet School. It is cold, unfriendly, condescending and highly critical of Rusty’s American experience and, of course, the ‘despicable’ accent. Everything Rusty does seems to result in a mark against her and her house, which has the unfortunate name Butt House.
One day, on a trip into town, Rusty overhears some boys calling one member of their group Yank, and she begins talking to him, not realizing that speaking to boys is against the rules. For this infraction, Rusty receives a discipline mark and is called up in front of the whole school and publicly humiliated. The next day she receives the sad news that Beatie has died. Feeling sad and alone, that night, Rusty discovers that she can climb down some scaffolding outside her window, and escape into the woods surrounding the school, feeling free for the first time since arriving in England. She manages to get a note to Yank on her next visit to town, telling him where and when to meet her that night.
The boy, Lance, shows up and they continue to meet at night, exploring and talking. Eventually, they find a bombed out house and Rusty begins to decorate it with the carpentry, painting and stenciling skills she learned in the US. Gradually, however, Lance begins to be accepted by the boys in his school, while things only get worse for Rusty, especially after her father returns home from the army.
It is clear that Rusty’s parents have grown apart during the five years of war. Her mother has become quite independent and refuses to give that up even though she is expected to by both her husband and his mother. Rusty, who has been coming home on weekends, is told by him that she will remain in school from now on. This is unbearable and when Rusty returns to school after Christmas vacation, she decides to run away.
Back Home is not just a war story; it is also a classic misfit come of age story. The level of bullying and intolerance directed at Rusty was, well, almost intolerable as a reader. The girls at school seemed to think she had it easy in the states, while they were left to live through the war in a much more up close and personal way; others resented her open, friendly American ways, and her more colorful, stylish American clothing. This theme of bullying and intolerance is still relevant in today’s world, especially given the fact that there seems to be, probably not in increase in bullying, but rather a crueler, more public presence of it, thanks to social media.
Her mother wanted Rusty to be the same little girl she was before she was evacuated. Her father and grandmother expected Rusty to conform to their idea of a proper English young lady and cast off her five years in the US as though they were nothing more than worn out old socks. Rusty and her mother have to learn to accept that they have changed and to be true to themselves, not what others wanted them to be.
But can a leopard change its spots? Maybe, maybe not.
I also thought Back Home was a very good example of an aspect of evacuation that, really, I haven’t run into before and I wonder how many kids returned home to find the same kind of difficulties Rusty faced.
As always, Magorian has crafted a well written story and one that I would highly recommend. It is by no means the tear jerker that Goodnight Mr. Tom is, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling.
April 25, 2009
When Rusty returns to England after having been evacuated to America during WWII, both her family and the country seem unfamiliar and alien. Adjusting to her old life is not made easier by the fact that she now has an American accent and a free and easy way of challenging authority that does not make her popular with her teachers or peers. Worst of all, Rusty feels as if her mother is a stranger, and not very supportive at that. And boarding school, often the refuge for those unhappy at home, becomes a place where Rusty is terrorized until she decides to run away.
October 9, 2019
This was my favourite book for years as a child, so much so my book copy is now only just still all attached as it’s been so well read. I found it while having a clear out a few days ago so had to reread it for old times sake. It was as good as I remember it to be. I do have lots of unanswered questions though mainly what happened to Ivy, Susan and the baby?! A tremendously brilliant novel.
March 26, 2022
A charming story about growing up, family, standing up for yourself, and the aftereffects of war on family dynamics.
September 18, 2014
I've read a sample of this thanks to Penguin UK and it has been a reminder of just why I loved this book so many years ago. That sense of not belonging is captured so clearly by all the children returning home to England from America after the war. Their homeland and parents feel like strangers and the struggle to adapt and fit back it makes for a very emotional storyline.
You get hooked in very quickly by twelve-year-old Rusty as she is a very likeable main character but one who plummets into a state of depression. England has changed, her family has changed, Rusty has changed and now none of them fit together easily. Rusty is a misfit with her new life and it makes for a sad but realistic read. So many families must have experienced exactly this the war and it must have been a horrible anti-climax after dreaming for so long of happy family reunions and a world returning to normal. I really appreciated how the plot got dark and gritty as Dusty tries to make sense of her new/old world.
The boarding school setting was another highlight especially as it wasn't all jolly hockey sticks like so many books from that period are. It was oppressive and another way to isolate Rusty. I only have vague memories now at what exactly happened at school but I know it wasn't good.
Yes, I really need to go re-read the whole book now! The sampler was only a tease and not enough but as it has inspired me to find a new copy, it''s not all bad.
You get hooked in very quickly by twelve-year-old Rusty as she is a very likeable main character but one who plummets into a state of depression. England has changed, her family has changed, Rusty has changed and now none of them fit together easily. Rusty is a misfit with her new life and it makes for a sad but realistic read. So many families must have experienced exactly this the war and it must have been a horrible anti-climax after dreaming for so long of happy family reunions and a world returning to normal. I really appreciated how the plot got dark and gritty as Dusty tries to make sense of her new/old world.
The boarding school setting was another highlight especially as it wasn't all jolly hockey sticks like so many books from that period are. It was oppressive and another way to isolate Rusty. I only have vague memories now at what exactly happened at school but I know it wasn't good.
Yes, I really need to go re-read the whole book now! The sampler was only a tease and not enough but as it has inspired me to find a new copy, it''s not all bad.
January 3, 2018
Having loved 'Goodnight Mister Tom', I was interested to see what else the author had written and am pleased to say that 'Back Home' is another gem.
I really felt for Rusty in this book. After having being evacuated to America 5 years ago, she finally heads back to England and really struggles to adjust. Her mum feels like a stranger, she has a brother she has never met and everyone hates her accent. England also seems grey and dull compared to the USA and everything is still heavily rationed.
Nobody around her seems to appreciate how difficult the whole experience would have been for a young girl and they think the best thing for her is to send her away to boarding school. Here she is bullied by her fellow pupils and teachers alike and becomes more and more isolated.
This story will hit a nerve with anyone who's ever felt left out or alone, especially in the school environment. Would highly recommend this book.
I really felt for Rusty in this book. After having being evacuated to America 5 years ago, she finally heads back to England and really struggles to adjust. Her mum feels like a stranger, she has a brother she has never met and everyone hates her accent. England also seems grey and dull compared to the USA and everything is still heavily rationed.
Nobody around her seems to appreciate how difficult the whole experience would have been for a young girl and they think the best thing for her is to send her away to boarding school. Here she is bullied by her fellow pupils and teachers alike and becomes more and more isolated.
This story will hit a nerve with anyone who's ever felt left out or alone, especially in the school environment. Would highly recommend this book.
December 1, 2025
Not sure how I’ve missed this one before when I’m a big fan of Mister Tom but I throughly loved it. Rusty is sent home to her mother in England after 7 years happy evacuation in the States during WW2. England is a big shock to her system and for the first time in my life I felt ashamed to be English at times & recognised how cruel our antiquated systems used to be to anyone deemed in any way ‘different’. It made me thankful to be living the present era.
Beautifully written and narrated on audio by Michelle Magorian.
Beautifully written and narrated on audio by Michelle Magorian.
September 5, 2013
I have a lot of love for Michelle Magorian, one of the great dames of British children's literature. I've spoken about Back Home before, briefly, in a list of books featuring Dartington Hall, the place where I went to University. It was, however, a too brief mention and so I returned to Back Home in order to review it properly.
And, to be honest, I returned because I've spent too long without reading a Michelle Magorian. She's one of those writers who simply is and always will be there in my life and her stories are ones that I return to when I need comfort, or when I just need to remind myself of what can happen when people are really good at what they do.
Back Home is a gorgeous, powerful book. Virginia is returning to the UK after being evacuated during the second world war to the United States. She's come back with a new nickname, Rusty, and a new more confident personality. Fitting back into the world that she left is hard. Her family still expects her to be the Virginia they let go, her grandmother basically loathes her, and the war torn nature of Britain comes as stark contrast to the life Rusty led in the United States.
And so, perhaps inevitably, Rusty is sent to boarding school to bring her back to the girl that various people want her to be. It does not go well.
Alex Baugh sums it up excellently in this review by calling it "a misfit come of age story." What's particularly interesting is that this by no means refers solely to Rusty. There's a strong feminist slant towards some of the novel, particularly the storyline affecting Rusty's mother, and so Back Home is not just the story of Rusty figuring out who she is now. It's the story of a whole lot of people figuring out who they are after the world changed all around them.
Magorian's language and writing style are vivid and heartfelt. There's points in this where you feel every single step taken by Rusty and, as ever with a Magorian, there will be tears. But there's more than sadness in this book, it's not just about those sorts of tears. It's about hope and joining these characters on their journey of discovery.
Michelle Magorian is outstanding. You should all go read her stuff, now. I'll write you a note for PE and I'll phone your boss for you. Trust me, it's worth it.
And, to be honest, I returned because I've spent too long without reading a Michelle Magorian. She's one of those writers who simply is and always will be there in my life and her stories are ones that I return to when I need comfort, or when I just need to remind myself of what can happen when people are really good at what they do.
Back Home is a gorgeous, powerful book. Virginia is returning to the UK after being evacuated during the second world war to the United States. She's come back with a new nickname, Rusty, and a new more confident personality. Fitting back into the world that she left is hard. Her family still expects her to be the Virginia they let go, her grandmother basically loathes her, and the war torn nature of Britain comes as stark contrast to the life Rusty led in the United States.
And so, perhaps inevitably, Rusty is sent to boarding school to bring her back to the girl that various people want her to be. It does not go well.
Alex Baugh sums it up excellently in this review by calling it "a misfit come of age story." What's particularly interesting is that this by no means refers solely to Rusty. There's a strong feminist slant towards some of the novel, particularly the storyline affecting Rusty's mother, and so Back Home is not just the story of Rusty figuring out who she is now. It's the story of a whole lot of people figuring out who they are after the world changed all around them.
Magorian's language and writing style are vivid and heartfelt. There's points in this where you feel every single step taken by Rusty and, as ever with a Magorian, there will be tears. But there's more than sadness in this book, it's not just about those sorts of tears. It's about hope and joining these characters on their journey of discovery.
Michelle Magorian is outstanding. You should all go read her stuff, now. I'll write you a note for PE and I'll phone your boss for you. Trust me, it's worth it.
April 29, 2025
the only thing getting through my final exams was taking a break to read my childhood faves
December 21, 2018
Perhaps because I read this later in life, but I found it did not have the same aplomb as Goodnight Mr. Tom. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable and resonant read. Having grown up half-and-half in America and England, I found Rusty's struggles at once heart-warming and slightly forced.
My gut reaction to a lot of the book is a sort of incredulous "why don't you talk to someone?" And while I understand that Rusty is being thrust into the lingering auras of fading Victorian attitudes when she meets her grandmother and attends school, her mother, Peggy, is shown as becoming one of the "new women" who emerged after WW2, having had to take over men's jobs, and beginning to encroach on men's roles in society as well. Yet whenever Rusty tries to talk to her she reverts to the Victorian attitudes of her in-laws (possibly also her parents). These two different aspects to Peggy don't seem to mesh as well as they could, and, although it drives the plot forward, it does feel a little strained at times.
Charlie's depiction, by contrast, is a delight. A four year old boy coping with the introduction of a sister, grandmother and father he never knew he had, as well as the (to him) inexplicable disappearance of his 'Uncle' Harvey. He doesn't adapt well to these changes, and is written in the same sympathetic way as the beloved children of Little Wierwold in Goodnight Mr. Tom.
One thing this book does drive home, and cope with well, is the lack of menfolk during the war. Rusty at one point sarcastically says she'll ask Charlie to chop wood for the bonfire "since he's the only boy around here". The reintroduction of the returning men into the Britain they have left behind is at once a point for irrational anger and irrepressible pity. They've gone, seen things, done things, they should never have had to see or do, and they come back expecting that they've saved the world they left behind them. Only to find that that world has moved on, and that women are now finding that they're just as competent as their absent men. Aided and abetted by Rusty's grandmother, Rusty's father is seen as wanting nothing more or less than the life he left behind, including the same job, same home and, most jarringly, the same obedient wife and timid daughter. Peggy and Rusty very sensibly refuse to give up their freedoms and personalities, and Charlie underpins the problem, first by being a wild and rambunctious country boy, suddenly transplanted to a city he cannot comprehend, then by being a symbol of the years of separation and of Peggy's emancipation from the relative tyranny of her mother-in-law.
Modern readers will think that the best, indeed the only, way forward would be divorce, something Rusty mentions to her secret friend Lance in relation to his parents. Rusty doesn't seem at all phased by the idea, perhaps due to her American upbringing. Lance, on the other hands, evinces all the horror that the contemporary Brit would feel at the allegation. This is at once a necessary interlude to indicate to the reader the impossibility of separation at the time, and a well constructed contrast between Rusty's American ideas and Lance's enforced Britishness.
Overall a pleasant read, and one which strikes a particularly resonant chord with me, and perhaps all of us who find ourselves trying to belong to a place we don't truly know. The history and the characters are treated with much the same intimacy as made Goodnight Mr. Tom so special, but there is, at times, a little hint that some things are happening purely to advance the plot. This, sadly, jars the reader out of the text and enjoyment of the story.
My gut reaction to a lot of the book is a sort of incredulous "why don't you talk to someone?" And while I understand that Rusty is being thrust into the lingering auras of fading Victorian attitudes when she meets her grandmother and attends school, her mother, Peggy, is shown as becoming one of the "new women" who emerged after WW2, having had to take over men's jobs, and beginning to encroach on men's roles in society as well. Yet whenever Rusty tries to talk to her she reverts to the Victorian attitudes of her in-laws (possibly also her parents). These two different aspects to Peggy don't seem to mesh as well as they could, and, although it drives the plot forward, it does feel a little strained at times.
Charlie's depiction, by contrast, is a delight. A four year old boy coping with the introduction of a sister, grandmother and father he never knew he had, as well as the (to him) inexplicable disappearance of his 'Uncle' Harvey. He doesn't adapt well to these changes, and is written in the same sympathetic way as the beloved children of Little Wierwold in Goodnight Mr. Tom.
One thing this book does drive home, and cope with well, is the lack of menfolk during the war. Rusty at one point sarcastically says she'll ask Charlie to chop wood for the bonfire "since he's the only boy around here". The reintroduction of the returning men into the Britain they have left behind is at once a point for irrational anger and irrepressible pity. They've gone, seen things, done things, they should never have had to see or do, and they come back expecting that they've saved the world they left behind them. Only to find that that world has moved on, and that women are now finding that they're just as competent as their absent men. Aided and abetted by Rusty's grandmother, Rusty's father is seen as wanting nothing more or less than the life he left behind, including the same job, same home and, most jarringly, the same obedient wife and timid daughter. Peggy and Rusty very sensibly refuse to give up their freedoms and personalities, and Charlie underpins the problem, first by being a wild and rambunctious country boy, suddenly transplanted to a city he cannot comprehend, then by being a symbol of the years of separation and of Peggy's emancipation from the relative tyranny of her mother-in-law.
Modern readers will think that the best, indeed the only, way forward would be divorce, something Rusty mentions to her secret friend Lance in relation to his parents. Rusty doesn't seem at all phased by the idea, perhaps due to her American upbringing. Lance, on the other hands, evinces all the horror that the contemporary Brit would feel at the allegation. This is at once a necessary interlude to indicate to the reader the impossibility of separation at the time, and a well constructed contrast between Rusty's American ideas and Lance's enforced Britishness.
Overall a pleasant read, and one which strikes a particularly resonant chord with me, and perhaps all of us who find ourselves trying to belong to a place we don't truly know. The history and the characters are treated with much the same intimacy as made Goodnight Mr. Tom so special, but there is, at times, a little hint that some things are happening purely to advance the plot. This, sadly, jars the reader out of the text and enjoyment of the story.
April 25, 2016
I have reread this book more than any other. In fact, once I finished reading it, felt sad, and immediately started it again.
Story time:
Virginia, who likes to be known as Rusty, returns to England after four years of being a sea evacuee in the United States. She is 12 on her return, and has few memories of England. Her 'adopted' parents helped instill a love of art and woodwork, and her siblings gave some confidence to the very small Virginia who arrived in the States at age 7.
On her return, her family seem like strangers. Her mum is a part time mechanic, her brother wasn't born before Virginia left for the US, and he becomes instantly jealous of her. Her dad is still serving in the war on her return. Virginia's mum, Peggy, had been evacuated to Devon and loves the Estate, and the home she and her friends have created during their time together. No one seems to understand Rusty, except the fun loving old timer, Beatie, who owns the house. Soon though, Virginia is sent to boarding school, and with her mother and brother, must readjust to their life before the war. Their former house is ruled by an unkindly grandmother, who dotes on Virginia's father, and disregards Peggy and her children for a myriad of reasons. At boarding school, Virginia is rejected by her peers for 'showing off' (very Enid Blyton), and by her teachers for being behind in her studies, although she was a good student in the States. About halfway through, Virginia finds a place in which she can unleash her creativity, which leads to the compelling ending.
Some thoughts:
The character of Beatie, and the character of Beatie's house, is simply magic! I would love to have a hug from Beatie. She is insightful, intuitive, but most of all, does not ruin the story by telling people specifically all the things they could or should be doing, she gently guides them that way.
This is the only book I can find about a sea evacuee returning, though I have read books about evacuees adjusting to their new lives. I found the comparisons between USA and England fascinating, and felt incredibly sad for the characters, especially Rusty's adopted parents. I felt at the end of the novel, Rusty would probably stay in England, rather than go back to USA for college, but you never know.
There is a telemovie of this starring Hayley Mills as Peggy. I watched it all on You Tube, and it captured some parts of the book much better than my reading of the book did. Judith Poole is both old-school-mean-girl and earnest, for example.
The ongoing struggle between Rusty being all for women's rights and education and her disdain for her mother's interest in cars was frustrating at times.
There are a few unresolved issues for me. Firstly, Uncle Harvey's sad departure before Rusty arrives. Surely Mitch could contact Harvey for the family if they really wanted him to. Even Peggy regrets this choice, and there isn't really a good reason it couldn't be undone. Also, poor Ivy. I want to know what happens with her marriages, and have wanted to for a long time.
This book is incredible. I have read Goodnight Mister Tom, and I know how much acclaim it has and does deserve. This book is well worthy of the same.
Story time:
Virginia, who likes to be known as Rusty, returns to England after four years of being a sea evacuee in the United States. She is 12 on her return, and has few memories of England. Her 'adopted' parents helped instill a love of art and woodwork, and her siblings gave some confidence to the very small Virginia who arrived in the States at age 7.
On her return, her family seem like strangers. Her mum is a part time mechanic, her brother wasn't born before Virginia left for the US, and he becomes instantly jealous of her. Her dad is still serving in the war on her return. Virginia's mum, Peggy, had been evacuated to Devon and loves the Estate, and the home she and her friends have created during their time together. No one seems to understand Rusty, except the fun loving old timer, Beatie, who owns the house. Soon though, Virginia is sent to boarding school, and with her mother and brother, must readjust to their life before the war. Their former house is ruled by an unkindly grandmother, who dotes on Virginia's father, and disregards Peggy and her children for a myriad of reasons. At boarding school, Virginia is rejected by her peers for 'showing off' (very Enid Blyton), and by her teachers for being behind in her studies, although she was a good student in the States. About halfway through, Virginia finds a place in which she can unleash her creativity, which leads to the compelling ending.
Some thoughts:
The character of Beatie, and the character of Beatie's house, is simply magic! I would love to have a hug from Beatie. She is insightful, intuitive, but most of all, does not ruin the story by telling people specifically all the things they could or should be doing, she gently guides them that way.
This is the only book I can find about a sea evacuee returning, though I have read books about evacuees adjusting to their new lives. I found the comparisons between USA and England fascinating, and felt incredibly sad for the characters, especially Rusty's adopted parents. I felt at the end of the novel, Rusty would probably stay in England, rather than go back to USA for college, but you never know.
There is a telemovie of this starring Hayley Mills as Peggy. I watched it all on You Tube, and it captured some parts of the book much better than my reading of the book did. Judith Poole is both old-school-mean-girl and earnest, for example.
The ongoing struggle between Rusty being all for women's rights and education and her disdain for her mother's interest in cars was frustrating at times.
There are a few unresolved issues for me. Firstly, Uncle Harvey's sad departure before Rusty arrives. Surely Mitch could contact Harvey for the family if they really wanted him to. Even Peggy regrets this choice, and there isn't really a good reason it couldn't be undone. Also, poor Ivy. I want to know what happens with her marriages, and have wanted to for a long time.
This book is incredible. I have read Goodnight Mister Tom, and I know how much acclaim it has and does deserve. This book is well worthy of the same.
January 25, 2018
I really feel for Rusty (the protagonist) in this book. After returning from America after 5 years, she can't just jump into her old English life, everything is different her accent, her principles, even her family. Even the weather seems dull and garb compared to America.
She is lonely and misunderstood and nobody seems to appreciate how the whole experience has been for her. She is sent away to boarding school and bullied by her fellow schoolmates and ridiculed by her teachers.
This story will sure hit a nerve with anyone's who's ever felt isolated and alone. Set in the post war England, this story is a must read for us all.
She is lonely and misunderstood and nobody seems to appreciate how the whole experience has been for her. She is sent away to boarding school and bullied by her fellow schoolmates and ridiculed by her teachers.
This story will sure hit a nerve with anyone's who's ever felt isolated and alone. Set in the post war England, this story is a must read for us all.
December 18, 2018
I love Goodnight Mister Tom so I was really interested to read something else by this author.
I wasn't disappointed as this is a great book.
Rusty has been in USA during WWII but it is now time to come home to be with her family. However, she doesn't get on with her mother and her little brother doesn't know her.
As Rusty struggles to adjust with her new life and school, her dad returns and seems like a stranger to everyone.
It is really sad as Rusty tries to fit in and just can't manage it. When her parents divorce, it seems that life will get a lot better for her.
A great book.
I wasn't disappointed as this is a great book.
Rusty has been in USA during WWII but it is now time to come home to be with her family. However, she doesn't get on with her mother and her little brother doesn't know her.
As Rusty struggles to adjust with her new life and school, her dad returns and seems like a stranger to everyone.
It is really sad as Rusty tries to fit in and just can't manage it. When her parents divorce, it seems that life will get a lot better for her.
A great book.
September 22, 2018
A good book about a girl coming home to England from America after WWII, and finds herself adjusting to a familiar yet unfamiliar world. As her mother and her have problems, it is the return of her father that makes both of them understand they are in the same boat, pushing them to reconnect. Good book, gets better the more you read; subtle, but powerful
March 23, 2021
I really wanted to love this book. I bought it on the back of reading Goodnight Mr Tom, the authors first novel. The story took a long time to unfold and I found it really dragged on once rusty went to boarding school. The characters weren’t very likeable either.
November 12, 2022
⭐️3.5⭐️
November 10, 2022
⭐️ 3.5 stars ⭐️
July 24, 2011
This book was amazing. It really made me reflect on how I react to certain things and how I am so lucky to have everything I have!
"Back Home" was about a girl called Virginia "Rusty" Dikinson who got sent away from her family in 1940 because her mother wanted to keep her safe from the war that was happening in England at the time. She was sent to America and after 5 years she grew into what she called an 'American family' of her own with the Omsks. In 1945 she had to be sent back to England to be with her family as the war was calming down. When she got back to her rightful home she hated it- it was cold, she felt like a fish out of water and her mother acted like she had never returned. Everyone was acting like total strangers and all she longed to do was to go back to America. She was laughed at because of her American slang and her accent. She was sent to a boarding school where they had silly rules like 'You aren't allowed to say okay" and "no talking to boys". All the kids were horrible and the teachers were worse because they hated her. While in town with Matron she met a boy called Lance who also got sent way to America in the war. She thought he was her only true friend so every night they would sneak out to their "cabin in the woods" and make it their own. Rusty was only a weekly boarder at this stage so every weekend she went back to her grandmother's house with mother and Charlie. She hated her grandmother so much and when her father came back he made it worse. Charlie was misbehaving and Grandmother would dicipline Rusty and her mother on every word they said. Rusty even got the cane from her father. It all got worse and worse; Beatie died, Rusty would not be nice to her family and in the end she ran away. She and Lance knew that if anyone found out about their secret cabin in the woods, they would be expelled from school. Ironicly the police found it and a lady who knew Peggy Dikinson (Rusty's mother) found Rusty. She was expelled from school but everything came together and Rusty, Charlie and mother lived a happy life in the Devon house.
This is a great book. It might take a little while to get into, but you'll love it more and more as you read.
I recommend this book to anyone- all ages and both boys and girls.
"Back Home" was about a girl called Virginia "Rusty" Dikinson who got sent away from her family in 1940 because her mother wanted to keep her safe from the war that was happening in England at the time. She was sent to America and after 5 years she grew into what she called an 'American family' of her own with the Omsks. In 1945 she had to be sent back to England to be with her family as the war was calming down. When she got back to her rightful home she hated it- it was cold, she felt like a fish out of water and her mother acted like she had never returned. Everyone was acting like total strangers and all she longed to do was to go back to America. She was laughed at because of her American slang and her accent. She was sent to a boarding school where they had silly rules like 'You aren't allowed to say okay" and "no talking to boys". All the kids were horrible and the teachers were worse because they hated her. While in town with Matron she met a boy called Lance who also got sent way to America in the war. She thought he was her only true friend so every night they would sneak out to their "cabin in the woods" and make it their own. Rusty was only a weekly boarder at this stage so every weekend she went back to her grandmother's house with mother and Charlie. She hated her grandmother so much and when her father came back he made it worse. Charlie was misbehaving and Grandmother would dicipline Rusty and her mother on every word they said. Rusty even got the cane from her father. It all got worse and worse; Beatie died, Rusty would not be nice to her family and in the end she ran away. She and Lance knew that if anyone found out about their secret cabin in the woods, they would be expelled from school. Ironicly the police found it and a lady who knew Peggy Dikinson (Rusty's mother) found Rusty. She was expelled from school but everything came together and Rusty, Charlie and mother lived a happy life in the Devon house.
This is a great book. It might take a little while to get into, but you'll love it more and more as you read.
I recommend this book to anyone- all ages and both boys and girls.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2009
This is an older kidlit title -- I've had this thing for the past year or two where I'm focused on novels and non-fiction accounts of the children who were evacuated from Britain to the US during WWII, based on a conversation that was going on with the Betsy-Tacy group. Kidlit fans may recall that Magorian is probably best known for the five-Kleenex Goodnight, Mr. Tom. In this book, Rusty, our heroine, has returned to England after living in Connecticut for most of the war years, and has a variety of difficulties adjusting to her "new" life -- feeling estranged from her mother, not being recognized by her little brother, having not suffered the rationing and shortages along with her UK peers, and generally acting too Americanized to fit in. She has a miserable time at boarding school, until she discovers how to sneak out of her dormitory and go exploring at night. The plot is snappy, if none too profound, and it's a nice look at the details of home life immediately following the war. One odd thing, which I think comes of this book having first been published in the early 1980s, is that the author has stridently included robust mentions of menstruating and bathroom use. They don't have anything at all to do with the plot, it's that thing from the 1970s and early 80s where writers for young adult audiences felt the need to hammer home the point that there is NOTHING SHAMEFUL about menstruating or using the bathroom. Now of course, it just seems jarring. Of course, I probably cannot complain too much about scatalogical focus in books, having just spent half of the previous review earnestly explaining about dog poo ... but there you have it.
Grade: B- This is a serviceable book, but nothing about the writing makes it stand out.
Recommended: It is interesting, I think, for its subject matter of the returning evacuee, but even in this limited genre there are other books that do it better.
2008/22
Grade: B- This is a serviceable book, but nothing about the writing makes it stand out.
Recommended: It is interesting, I think, for its subject matter of the returning evacuee, but even in this limited genre there are other books that do it better.
2008/22
January 17, 2013
This was one of my all time favourite books when I was a child.
I remember the copy I had - it had a different cover back then - but it was the most tattered, dog eared book I have perhaps ever owned. I have a sneaking suspicion that I might have actually stolen it from school. Either that or my mum picked it up for me from a second hand book stall at a school fete or something, but either way I'm digressing.
I probably read it nearly twenty times. I used to love stories about this kind of time period - I think it was about then that I'd seen the film 'A League of their Own', (and like when I watched Titanic and turned into a mini historian on the subject of the real sinking) I got really into that time period.
This is a magical story, well written with brilliant characterisation, that not only touches the imagination but conveys the real-life difficulties faced by familes that had been torn apart and were trying to glue themselves back together into a cohesive unit.
I think I might have to dig up that old copy and re-read it at some point - soon.
I remember the copy I had - it had a different cover back then - but it was the most tattered, dog eared book I have perhaps ever owned. I have a sneaking suspicion that I might have actually stolen it from school. Either that or my mum picked it up for me from a second hand book stall at a school fete or something, but either way I'm digressing.
I probably read it nearly twenty times. I used to love stories about this kind of time period - I think it was about then that I'd seen the film 'A League of their Own', (and like when I watched Titanic and turned into a mini historian on the subject of the real sinking) I got really into that time period.
This is a magical story, well written with brilliant characterisation, that not only touches the imagination but conveys the real-life difficulties faced by familes that had been torn apart and were trying to glue themselves back together into a cohesive unit.
I think I might have to dig up that old copy and re-read it at some point - soon.
May 15, 2023
I absolutely loved 'Good Night, Mr. Tom' both as a child, an adult and reading along with my eldest son. We therefore entered into this with some excitement but honestly it's just not in the same league. The story is fine enough, but none of the characters other than Rusty stick in the memory and it has none of the emotional involvement. Things really just happen here, without serving much overall purpose to the plot, a lot of ideas are started and never really fully fleshed out or realised. It's taken us a long time to finish this which speaks volumes, my son again wasn't massively enamoured.
2.5 Stars
2.5 Stars
January 20, 2023
Love it as a comfort read. Rusty isn't the child her mother sent to America and is struggling to fit into post war Britten
August 4, 2016
Really not enjoying this book so have decided to put it down and start something more educational
I feel really uncomfortable about details of naked children going through puberty !
I feel really uncomfortable about details of naked children going through puberty !
Read
July 26, 2016I remember being ridiculously depressed by this book at 14. I'm tempted to re-read it just to see whether what I think of as "depressing" has changed, and how much.
March 6, 2025
I've read this book multiple times and it never fails to move me.
April 17, 2025
This is a wonderful book, but the first few chapters are painful to read. Persevere. It's worth it.
June 16, 2020
I was first given a copy of this when I was around 14 years old by my Granny. It was one of hers she had for a while or had been passed on and is now quite battered, 24 years on but is one of the few paperbacks I still own. I always associate the book with certain music and after hearing that recently I felt compelled to re-read it and as always it didn’t disappoint!
Firstly, this is a book aimed at children (9-12), but I loved it and related well to it back at fourteen and have re-read it many times since and always love it so it’s definitely not just for children.
Set just after the second world war, Rusty was sent to America as an evacuee aged seven and has lived there with her ‘American family’ for the past 5 years, we begin the story with her return voyage and, aged twelve, her reunion with her family back home.
This covers the story of how the evacuated children felt when they returned home, they felt like they had one foot in each country, two entirely different worlds, the new one is much duller with constant reminders that everyone who hadn’t been sent away had ‘just been through war you know’. You can easily sympathise with how a 12-year-old would feel being confused and thrown back into a strange world with virtual strangers.
Poor Rusty is seriously misunderstood, the things that were respectful in America are disrespectful back home and she struggles to fit in. Everything changes so quickly, first reunited with her mother who she doesn’t recognise, meeting her baby brother, now four, who she has never met before and then reuniting with her grandmother and her father. Sent away to boarding school to educate her properly and lose her accent, Rusty is desperately unhappy.
This is so well written, you feel Rusty’s pain throughout the book and want to jump in and rescue her, to give her a huge hug and make her feel loved again. The character development is brilliant, right from the first page you can easily link in with them and feel the pain and confusion on both sides, the things left unsaid that should be said and the pain it caused the other party. Peggy, Rusty’s mother, must have missed her terribly and feels rejected when she returns, she finds it hard to communicate with this young and fiercely independent child. She tries her best to smooth the path for her but Rusty doesn’t always see it.
This is a potentially life-changing and heart-warming book for any adult or child struggling to find their way, feeling lonely or left out or going through big life changes.
Firstly, this is a book aimed at children (9-12), but I loved it and related well to it back at fourteen and have re-read it many times since and always love it so it’s definitely not just for children.
Set just after the second world war, Rusty was sent to America as an evacuee aged seven and has lived there with her ‘American family’ for the past 5 years, we begin the story with her return voyage and, aged twelve, her reunion with her family back home.
This covers the story of how the evacuated children felt when they returned home, they felt like they had one foot in each country, two entirely different worlds, the new one is much duller with constant reminders that everyone who hadn’t been sent away had ‘just been through war you know’. You can easily sympathise with how a 12-year-old would feel being confused and thrown back into a strange world with virtual strangers.
Poor Rusty is seriously misunderstood, the things that were respectful in America are disrespectful back home and she struggles to fit in. Everything changes so quickly, first reunited with her mother who she doesn’t recognise, meeting her baby brother, now four, who she has never met before and then reuniting with her grandmother and her father. Sent away to boarding school to educate her properly and lose her accent, Rusty is desperately unhappy.
This is so well written, you feel Rusty’s pain throughout the book and want to jump in and rescue her, to give her a huge hug and make her feel loved again. The character development is brilliant, right from the first page you can easily link in with them and feel the pain and confusion on both sides, the things left unsaid that should be said and the pain it caused the other party. Peggy, Rusty’s mother, must have missed her terribly and feels rejected when she returns, she finds it hard to communicate with this young and fiercely independent child. She tries her best to smooth the path for her but Rusty doesn’t always see it.
This is a potentially life-changing and heart-warming book for any adult or child struggling to find their way, feeling lonely or left out or going through big life changes.
September 30, 2025
This was a real page turner for me and saying I enjoyed it seems wrong as it's quite a bleak story for the majority of the book, but I did indeed enjoy it.
Poor Rusty, it's 1945 and she has spent the past 5 years evacuated to America, living the good life with a kind family who love and support her and then suddenly it's time to go home, back to damp old England to reunite with a family that she no longers knows.
Everyone and everything is different and takes a lot of getting used to and while it's asked that she shows patience for others, as she rightly thinks to herself, nobody is showing much patience with her.
I liked Peggy, Rusty's mother but I was sad that it took her so long to really start to know and understand her daughter.
Rusty's grandmother and father were both pretty awful people, truly the worst kind of stiff upper lip british people, same goes for the boarding school she is sent to, what a nightmare!
Endless rules that make very little in the way of sense and the whole twisted hierarchy that gets imprinted onto and then followed by all the girls that go there. Rusty suffered there and I along with her.
Rusty is such a lively, engaging character and quite modern, really (although for her it was just seen as "being American"), in how she sees and interacts with these stiff people and their silly rules. Rusty's response to being told that she can't do something because of x reason matched exactly my own.
As for the ending
Poor Rusty, it's 1945 and she has spent the past 5 years evacuated to America, living the good life with a kind family who love and support her and then suddenly it's time to go home, back to damp old England to reunite with a family that she no longers knows.
Everyone and everything is different and takes a lot of getting used to and while it's asked that she shows patience for others, as she rightly thinks to herself, nobody is showing much patience with her.
I liked Peggy, Rusty's mother but I was sad that it took her so long to really start to know and understand her daughter.
Rusty's grandmother and father were both pretty awful people, truly the worst kind of stiff upper lip british people, same goes for the boarding school she is sent to, what a nightmare!
Endless rules that make very little in the way of sense and the whole twisted hierarchy that gets imprinted onto and then followed by all the girls that go there. Rusty suffered there and I along with her.
Rusty is such a lively, engaging character and quite modern, really (although for her it was just seen as "being American"), in how she sees and interacts with these stiff people and their silly rules. Rusty's response to being told that she can't do something because of x reason matched exactly my own.
As for the ending
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