New Windmills: Isaac Campion

by Janni Howker

One of a series of top-quality fiction for schools, this novel concerns rites of passage from childhood to adolescence.

Genres: Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Janni Howker is a British author who has written several award-winning adult and children's books; she has also adapted her work for the screen. Howker has worked across the UK running creative writing workshops for adults and children, and is involved in several arts development programmes.

She lives in the north of England, where many of her books are set: most notably Martin Farrell, which tells the tale of a boy caught in the midst of the bloody feuds of the Border Reivers.

Reviews

[Amy Rhoda Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tiny, perfect slice of working class life in the Midlands of England at the turn of the last century. This is a story about family, destiny and choice. I would choose this for a book club pick if it were easier to come by -- there is a lot to think about in this little book.

[zaydzayn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Its nice to travel back to the early 1900s and have a feel of how life was then. And to see the world from a naive but somewhat mature 12 year old. I love how the author explores the father and son relationship between Isaac and his father, as well as the brotherly love and respect between Isaac and Daniel. I loved how the story touches on the relationship between Isaac and his mother as well. I guess, even though the book is set more than 100 years ago, the nature and emotion of the family institution hasn't really changed much. Its amazing how words on paper can show so much depth and emotion. Haha!

[Marc Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvellous. Captivating. Another of those books for kids that isn’t. The honesty of the protagonist's brutal relationship with his father – more metal than physical – never lets you go. Yet his tenderness, and the way it is conveyed through nature and all his other relationships, is balanced perfectly.

The real tragedy is that this isn’t more widely read. It had no weaknesses at all.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tiny book from a young author stepping into a nonogenarian's long peg-hung work boots. I looked up Howker whose prize-winning streak for a handful of books (mainly in the mid-1980s) hasn't left a noticeably strong trace on Google. However, the Kirkus review reprinted from 1987 glows with not-unfounded praise. This book marries heart and a descriptive intensity that transported me to a place familiar from Hovis ads, but just far enough away from the droning horns and biscuit tins to carry. Every sense is engaged, together with an internalised emotional tongue-biting resentment that creates the narrative tension for the tale.

I am possibly more sentimental than I ought to be. Give me a book that evokes the old sunset scene from Emmerdale, and I'll probably warm to it. But I think this manages more than just home-baked cosiness. In the constricting hearthside narrowness of its compass, Howker harks convincingly to a recently lost world.

[Annica H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I also get this feeling of 'I know I have to leave but there are so many things that stop me from doing it'.

This book will always remember me to leave a place that you feel you don't belong to.
The world is so big and there's so little time to spend it where you don't want to be.

[Laronda Blessing · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A complex and believable account of a 12-year-old in turn-of-the-century England and his family's struggles to make a living while dealing with a rivalry that has deadly results. I enjoyed it.

[Felicity · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad book about dealing with bereavement and a controlling parent. Very moving and an interesting insight in to life in the 1900.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars because it was a short but dearly cute reading and fun to get through the old-rural english expressions and grammar. Also, plenty of horse-related vocabulary. First hand account of a 12yo, our lad Isaac Champion, struggling with the relationship with his father after the death of his older brother and living in a decade when children were not made for fun and toys but to be used as free workforce and handled with heavy fists. A good read to have when the routine is too busy and the mind too troubled for longer and deeper reads.

[Gebanuzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this story.
Isaac campion is like everyone child who doesn't have a good relation with his father.
I like all tha metaphores with the horses.
:D

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was 9 or 10 years old when I first read it. I have read it like 6 or 10 times, it is just awesome.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a novel aimed at children, Isaac Campion paints a tough, bleak picture. Convincing, compelling. Its rendering of the Lancashire dialect is a triumph.