The Return of the Railway Children by Lou Kuenzler was published in 2018 and is of course a sort of sequel to E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children which was first published in 1906. I’m often quite wary of sequels like this but as this one has a World War 2 setting I thought it was worth giving it a go. I’m glad I did.

Edith lived in London with her mother as the bombs rained down on the city.  They had sheltered down in the underground stations during the night, but when Edie’s school shuts down her mother decides that it’s time that she sent her daughter to live in the countryside where it should be safer. Edie isn’t happy about it but with her mother planning to do her bit by flying newly built aircraft to their RAF bases she realises that she’ll just have to go, at least she’ll be staying with her Aunt Roberta, but due to a mysterious family schism Edie doesn’t know her aunt at all, but we do – she’s Bobbie from the original book! Aunt Roberta ends up taking in two more evacuees and along with Edie they are the new railway children who have a similar adventure – minus the red petticoat, and featuring some wartime adventures.

This book is well written and different enough from the original book so it doesn’t feel like a rip-off. My one compaint is that in a letter written to Edie from her mother she ends it with   xoxo.  The author should have stuck to using just x for kisses because that xoxo thing is very modern and I think originally American.  I remember seeing it first about 12 years ago and I was a bit mystified at the time.

This is one of my 20 Books of Summer 2023.