However, this perspective also subtly introduced darker elements as the children grew older; money difficulties, external influences such as school and the holiday makers, mental health issues, and betrayal. I found some of the early chapters relied too heavily on exposition; the history of the families in Frith was necessary to understanding the dynamics of the characters but I felt it could’ve been explained in a less obvious way than ‘the story’ told by the adults.

They do not look through a glass darkly but make astute and shared assessments of their parents and other adults. So much of the story of Amy and Lan is like that: children and adults working and laughing and dancing in a world of their own. We begin in autumn 2005, when anticipation about who gets to light the annual bonfire fairly bursts from the pages. I also kept waiting for something awful to happen involving any one of the characters, especially after the early scene involving the axe.Luke’s Hospital — Lan and Amy read tone and situation like nobody’s business, know when to shut up when fights about “boring” money erupt, and both agree that the “best two grown-ups” are Jim (Lan’s stepfather) and Harriet, determined to make Frith “a real farm.

Although the reader could see what was coming in the undercurrents of conversations heard and the behaviours the children witness from the beginning but don’t understand, it’s still a shock when the infrastructure of Frith changes forever. I don't think the adults were that neglectful - the children went to school and did not seem to have any problems there, they had baths and did not come to too much harm. Premium Digital includes access to our premier business column, Lex, as well as 15 curated newsletters covering key business themes with original, in-depth reporting. Some of the recollections highlighted how wild and dangerous childhood can be, especially without the supervision of adults.After “Seven Years of Bad Luck,” Lan’s mother, naturalist/earth mother Gail, realized she had been in the “Wrong Life. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. I was irritated by many of the adults who were so engrossed in their own lives that the children ran wild in dirty clothes and missing school. Consequently Amy and Lan have minimal adult supervision and a great deal of freedom by modern standards, They roam throughout the surrounding countryside.

It was interesting reading children’s perspectives of living in a hippy commune farm; although I have to say I was not entirely convinced by Lan’s and Amy’s voices. It is not to be read as a comment on the viability of communal living – there being at least as much good as bad in Frith. As a child, it would be one of those thoughts that you couldn’t get out of your head once thought and so tempting. I felt thoroughly immersed in Frith and its characters, particularly throughout the second half of the book.In alternating chapters, the children introduce us to their bold and adventurous selves — Lan’s axe experiment has luckily missed Amy’s toes — and describe the weather (frequently damp and cold), moods and personalities of the adults in charge of their bit of paradise.