Hilary McKay is an award-winning author, having won the Guardian Fiction Prize for her first novel, The Exiles, and going on to win the Smarties and the Whitbread (now the Costa) Award for The Exiles in Love and Saffy's Angel. Hilary McKay's Fairy Tales was her first book with Macmillan Children's Books and is a critically acclaimed collection of clever retellings. Her 2018 title The Skylarks' War marks the centenary of the end of the First World War and was the winner of the Costa Children's Book Award 2018. It is a classic in the making.
McKay has a real gift for amusing dialogue and descriptions. A delightful debut. * Kirkus Reviews * Readers will be tickled by the children's attempts to evade their canny grandparent and will be touched by the affection that blossoms between generations despite initial clashes of wills. * Publishers Weekly * The characters are beautifully developed . . . recorded with such humour and sensitivity that it is an engrossing, sometimes laugh-out-loud story * Write Away * I can't think of a girl aged between eight and eighteen who wouldn't enjoy this little gem of a book -- Jill Murphy * The Bookbag * The Exiles is a delight * Guardian * McKay has created a boisterous, chaotic family which always makes me want to rush out and adopt three sisters * TES * Farce and genuine soft-hearted concern here mix wonderfully * The Guardian * McKay has a genius for comedy * The Sunday Times *