LONDON CALLING
Edward Bloor
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Fiction
Hardcover: 0375836357
Paperback: 9780375843631
304 pages

Martin Conway can't stand the snobbery at All Souls Preparatory School, not to mention the uniforms and the tradition. He'd love to just get away from it all and disappear into the anonymity of public school. But he can't, because his mother works as a secretary at the school so that Martin can have the chance one day to join the diplomatic corps to which his grandfather belonged.

Martin doesn't want a better life in the future; he just wants a better one right now, away from the nasty but popular Hank Lowery and his friends --- tormentors of the weak and helpless. They attack Martin and his friends after the latter question the war hero status of Hank's grandfather. Although Hank and company strike the first blow, somehow it's Martin's friend who gets expelled (for fighting back in defense). But that's the way it works at All Souls: money and power win every time.

In addition to the dismal atmosphere at school, Martin has plenty going on at home: his mother won't listen to him, his father, an admitted alcoholic, doesn't even live with them anymore, and his beloved grandmother has just died. Worst of all, perhaps, are the dreams he's been having: dreams that place him back in World War II and that leave him with intimate knowledge of things that happened 60 years ago --- things he couldn't possibly be aware of unless he was actually there. During these bizarre happenings, he meets a young boy named Jimmy Harker who asks him a seemingly simple question: Will you help?

Edward Bloor is an author who can always be counted on for writing something different --- and LONDON CALLING is certainly that. Part time travel, part ghost story, part problem novel, LONDON CALLING does a great job of linking these different elements into one coherent and compelling whole. As with his previous books, Bloor's strength is with his characters: Martin, of course, who comes across as determined and curious even in the face of extraordinary experiences, but also his intriguing sister Margaret and straightforward best friend Pinak. Martin's unfolding relationship with his father also drives the book, as he learns to see his father as a much more complex person than he originally thought.

Readers who enjoy historical fiction with a twist will be intrigued by LONDON CALLING --- as will anyone who likes books that challenge the status quo, especially through unexpected and unusual elements. This is an effective and compelling novel that will make readers think not only about the way we view our past but also about the way we understand our present.

   --- Reviewed by Paula Jolin

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