Name: Love to everyone
ISBN: 9781534427105

Hilary McKay

In 1902 England, Clarry and Peter struggle with the challenges of living with an indifferent father, but the summers they spend in Cornwall with their grandparents and cousin Rupert provide much needed comfort, and in the years that follow Clarry looks back on those leisurely days to help her cope with the trying times of World War I and its aftermath.

Love to everyone

Christine

8.2.20 - WHY ARE THERE SO MANY EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!! also this was a wild trip but just.. <3

--
March 2019:
I have a weird habit of sometimes just going into Barnes & Noble or my library and scanning the children's shelves (aka ages 8-12) for books. I find some real gems from there, and I guess this is one of them. 
First of, yes I love war fiction and non-fiction. As soon as I saw the synopsis of this, I immediately knew I had to read it. (Watch this be an italics-filled review cough Rilla of Ingleside cough)
This was published as The Skylarks' War in the UK, I believe, but here we have it as Love to Everyone - and both make sense in the book. Imo, the Skylark title/cover is more fitting, but that's just an opinion. 
If there's a song that describes this book, it's Sleeping at Last's "Mars" (from Atlas: Space). - We laid our names to rest/Along the dotted line . . . We were amateurs at war,/Strangers to suffering./We made our families proud/But scared at the same time./We promised we’d be safe,/Another lie from the front lines.
This book also had a heavy Dorothy Sayers' Harriet Vane vibe, especially with the whole Oxford thing and the fact there's a character named Miss Vane...

Starting with the basics - 
Characters:
* Clarissa "Clarry" Penrose
* Peter Penrose
* Penrose parents [Janey (†) and (unnamed)]
* [grandparents]
* Rupert Penrose
* Miss Vane
* Mrs. Morgan
* Simon Bonnington
* Vanessa Bonnington
* Bonnington parents [Beatrice and "Odysseus"]
* Violet (?)


My favorite character, flat-out, is Vanessa. She was such a personality, and a strong support throughout - and (view spoiler)[yanno, I was 90% sure Peter had a crush on her from the beginning and lOOK I WAS RIGHT <33 (hide spoiler)]
My least favorite was easily the father. Look, I get we're supposed to, what, pity him? but he was such a caricature throughout, the epitome of indifference. 

There isn't much of a real "plot" throughout - it's mostly following headstrong Clarry as she secures her own education through some rather unorthodox methods involving Peter, and then the trouble of the actual war and the complications that arise from Rupert enlisting and some other things ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). This book covers many years, approx. from 1902-1924 (twenty-two years!). I think it was sort of a stretch to cover so many years in this 324 page novel, especially with the awkward pacing (slow and steady in the beginning, and then suddenly sped up wildly). 

[rest of review to come smh @ self]

Love to everyone

Reviews