Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award. Mum said war was a punishment from God for people's sins, so he'd better watch out. She didn't tell him what to watch out for, though. When the Second World War breaks out, young Willie Beech is evacuated to the countryside. A sad, deprived child, he slowly begins to flourish under the care of kind old Tom Oakley. But then his cruel mother summons him back to war-torn London... Will he ever see Mister Tom again? Everyone's idea of a smash-hit first novel: full-blown characters to love & hate, moments of grief & joy, & a marvellous story that knows just how to grab the emotions. (Guardian). Michelle Magorian was born in Portsmouth & on leaving school studied at the Rose Bruford College of speech & Drama & Marcel Marceau's International School of Mime in Paris. Over the years she became interested in children's books & decided to write one herself. The result was Goodnight Mister Tom, which won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award, an International Reading Association Award & was also made into a much-loved film, starring the late John Thaw.