Books like Bricks and Flowers

A wonderful, thoroughly researched and wide-ranging overview of children's literature, from early beginnings in the 17th century right up to J K Rowling and Philip Pullman today. I loved meeting many old childhood 'friends' while discovering books and authors I'd somehow missed.
My only niggle is that Leith consciously omitted most (not all, so inconsistent) American authors, whose contribution to childhood literature is monumental. Think Little Women, What Katy Did and The Phantom Tollbooth, to name but a few. But overall this is a hugely enjoyable read.

Lissa Evans is that rare thing: a contemporary author of beautifully written, tightly plotted novels that don't feel they need to tick any boxes but allow the sharply delineated characters to be themselves and the story to come through. V for Victory completes her WW2 trilogy that began with Old Baggage (also wonderful, as is the second one, Crooked Heart), in which gawky, eccentric orphan Noel and his initially reluctant adoptive 'aunt' Vee Sedge fight for economic survival in a bombed out London. Clever, engaging, intriguing, historically fascinating, written by a master storyteller who can switch from comedy to heart-wrenching poignancy on a sixpence.