If the Invader Comes by Tom Palmer

It’s hard for me to understand the real fear of invasion that existed in Britain in 1940. My parents, both of whom were born in the 1930s, were just too young to understand and my Dad, who was old enough to have proper memories, hardly ever talked about his wartime experiences in Hampshire. I don’t think they were happy ones. But intellectually I understand that after the the Nazi occupation of Denmark and Norway and the fall of France, Great Britain from north to south was in a vulnerable position.

It’s in this time and atmosphere that Tom Palmer’s newest book is set. Now Tom is younger than I am so clearly his knowledge is at least secondhand. But his research is coupled with emotional understanding to produce a book that brings the fear and uncertainty to life. Set in Cornwall, near Falmouth, the book is hung around actual events, although the story is a fictional one of three young friends whose family circumstances mean that they become more involved than any of their classmates. For different reasons they are also targeted by their contemporaries, with bullying and unfounded gossip. Clearly the Keep Mum! exhortation was not being adhered to.

Bobble (nope, no idea where this name comes from, but she’s a girl), Cadan and Priscilla are friends who share little in common except that they each have a parent involved in secret war work. This places extra responsibility on the children and sometimes puts them in significant danger. The action unfolds over about ten months from June 1940 when anxiety in the south of the country was at its height. By the following spring that fear was receding but still real and when Tom’s book ends there is still huge uncertainty for the children and their parents. The open-ended conclusion is realistic, given that the country is still at war, and uncertainty about Nazi Germany’s plans still remained until it opened up an Eastern Front in June 1941, thus making an invasion of Great Britain unlikely. There was, of course, still major bombing ahead – and not just in London.

The spine of If the Invader Comes has at its top a box saying Allies 1 which makes me think (and hope) that there is a series to come. I’m looking forward to more from the exceptional partnership of Tom Palmer and Barrington Stoke books. And I hope that future books will also feature maps drawn by James Innerdale and illustrations by Paul Blow.