Goodnight Mister Tom

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child.

Tom tucked a blanket round him, drew up a chair by the fire and watched Willie fall asleep. The tales he had heard about evacuees didnt seem to fit Willie. Ungrateful and wild were the adjectives he had heard used, or just plain homesick. He was quite unprepared for this timid, sickly little specimen.

Britain, 1940. With World War Two raging all around, young children are being sent from their homes in the city to the countryside for safety. When eight-year-old Willie Beech first arrives on Tom Oakleys doorstep, neither are quite sure what to make of each another.

Brought up in terrible poverty, Willie is terribly shy, and totally unprepared for village life - but the gruff-but-gentle Mister Tom quickly takes him under his wing. Neither he nor Willie could ever have predicted the journey they will go on together - nor the unbreakable bond that will be formed.

Winner of the Guardian Childrens Fiction Award, and rightly hailed as a true classic of childrens literature, Goodnight Mister Tom is a beautifully told, deeply moving story about the power of friendship, kindness, hope - and love.

Everyones idea of a smash-hit novel: full-blown characters to love and hate, moments of grief and joy, and a marvellous story that knows just how to grab the emotions - Guardian