The Hunt for David Berman

Yesterday, as part of the Blog Tour for this book, I shared a fascinating interview with author, Claire Mulligan about how she started writing and her journey to getting published. I really enjoyed this story and so today, here is my review.

Robert and his little sister, Elsa, have been evacuated from London to his grandparents’ farm in Scotland whilst his father is fighting in the war and his mother is in the Wrens. Finding it hard to adjust to farm life and missing his parents, he explores the caves along the coast, hoping to find the treasure his grandfather’s stories are full of. Instead of pirate gold, he finds a young boy, David, who has been living there. A Kindertransport child, David was fostered by a family on a nearby farm who were cruel, leading him to run away. However, David is unaware that he is carrying something with him which the Gestapo are trying to track down and a secret agent has been instructed to hunt for David Berman.

‘The Hunt for David Berman’ is an exciting, pacy thriller of a tale which keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. It offers a traditional romp of an adventure, but one full of historical detail- a perfect combination!

The boys are both very sympathetic characters and their friendship is one built on mutual trust and respect. It is great to see kind, sensitive children at the heart of an adventure like this. Both are separated from loved ones that they are constantly worried about, both have been taken from the lives which they know and can empathise with the other’s experience, offering comfort and support. Robert is genuinely concerned about his friend’s welfare and seeks to help him at every opportunity.

As he shares his memories with Robert, David’s experiences clearly expose the impact of war on the individual. He has experienced the terror of the Nazi’s actions against Jews, seen those he thought to be friends turn against him, lost his father and had to leave his mother and grandmother behind whilst fleeing to an unknown land. Having experienced all of this, he is then exposed to a brutal foster father who sees him as labour on his farm. His friendship with Robert offers him emotional as well as practical support. Although Robert has fared better than David, he also is finding his situation difficult to cope with, resulting in bad dreams which lead to bed wetting.

Scenes in the story focusing on the Gestapo and their hunt for the codebook which has been hidden in David’s suitcase are suitably sinister and there are some very tense moments in the story. However, the ending is deeply satisfying for those who have been caught up in the boys’ story.

‘The Hunt for David Berman’ would be a great book to use in school, both as an excellent story and as the starting point for discussions about events during the Second World War. It also offers much in terms of developing empathy and exploring the importance of getting to know others.

The Hunt for David Berman Claire Mulligan

The Moth ISBN: 978-0956979575

Out 5th May 2020

The blog tour continues…

Blog Tour: The Hunt for David Berman

Today, author Claire Mulligan joins me for the third stop on her blog tour for her debut novel, The Hunt for David Berman, to talk about how she started writing and her journey to getting published.

My Writing journey

When I was thirteen years old I wrote a story for an English class, my very first piece of writing set by my rather formidable teacher in my first year of secondary school. Mr Noonan liked the story so, rather than flinging my copybook to me across the class (which he had done to every other student), he asked me to come up and read it out loud. As I read and my classmates laughed at the funny bits and Mr Noonan smiled encouragingly I saw firsthand the power of the written word. As a child I loved reading and trips to the local library were a weekly occurrence and, under the guiding eye of Rose the librarian, I read a vast amount. Fast forward several decades and as a busy mum I wrote snippets here and there in my spare time. There were lists of words I liked, diaries I managed to keep for only a short time, surnames of people and interesting names over shop fronts, town lands, lines from poems. At that time I worked as a Montessori teacher and story time and picture books were a huge part of the children’s daily life. I read to my own children at home, stories on the sofa in front of the fire, board books the baby chewed on, bedtime books to help us settle down to sleep and I loved all of these books as much as my children did. I loved seeing how utterly engrossed they were in the characters lives or in whatever exciting adventure was happening in the book. I wrote a couple of children’s short stories and they were published in The Caterpillar Magazine. I also wrote a short story (this time for adults) which won third place in the RTE Radio 1 Short Story competition. And these two things really helped to build my confidence. I spent more time day dreaming and thinking of stories. I would walk the dogs each morning and slowly on these walks the beginnings of another story came. I wrote when I got the chance, moments of quiet in the day when the children were at school or late in the evening when the house was finally wrapped in sleep.  I wrote more and more and as this story unfolded it began to change from story length to book length. And so here we are, The Hunt for David Berman is what that story turned into! I was glad to let the characters of Robert and David step out of my imagination and onto the page. When you have a story in your head it’s often all you can think of.  Now I’m working on another book, this time set in 17th century Ireland - it features changelings, old magic and the Otherworld and those characters are dying to have their story told too...

The Hunt for David Berman by Claire Mulligan is published by The Moth on 5th May 2022, £8.99 paperback.