The story is elliptical in nature, jumping around in time and place – never settling with one character long enough to allow the reader to really get to know them.Ĭam is the only man from his village to return from the war and he’s having a difficult time adapting to life back on his father’s farm. While not without its merits, Hinwood’s book didn’t appeal to me. It’s alternate historical fiction – which reads like fantasy because the world is sort of, well, otherworldly. The Returning, a Printz Award winner, is the story of how the aftermath of a domestic war between the Uplanders and Downlanders affects a disparate group of people including Cam Attling (a returned soldier), Pin (his younger sister), Graceful (Cam’s fiance) and Lord Gyaar (the man who saved Cam’s life). That’s how I came to read Christine Hinwood’s debut novel, The Returning. Recently, I volunteered to help review some books for the Dept of Education, books which have been selected for possible inclusion on the sanctioned reading list and thus destined for English classes in middle and high school. I read some YA because it sounds interesting to me. I do it so that I can have conversations with students in my classroom.
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