The Exiles

A lovely and funny book for children. Many years ago, I got this very book as a reward, winning a reading contest in school. I loved it from the first to the last page, and re-read it many times. Unfortunately it got lost while we moved to another country. Now I have another copy, and still love it from the first to the last page. The sisters are funny, crazy and amazing.

Last night I read "The Exiles" by Hilary McKay, which had recently been recommended to me. And I'll agree with the others who enjoyed the story; while the book wasn't "laugh-out-lout" funny, the exploits of the girls were amusing. and it was a satisfying read. That being said, I have to say perhaps I'm getting old (or just suffering from "cranky old git" syndrome), because I did identify much more with the long-suffering grandmother than I did the children. In fact, I rather act a bit like her when my young nephews come to visit! (The only exception being that I would love it if my nephews wanted to read all the time, like the girls in the book do. There don't seem to be any addicted readers in this family apart from myself.) I wouldn't call it a problem with the book, exactly, but I didn't find the four sisters to be as appealing as the siblings in the two Penderwick books by Jeanne Birdsall (The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (Penderwicks (Quality)), The Penderwicks on Gardam Street), or the Bastable children in the four books by Edith Nesbit (The Story of the Treasure Seekers: Being the Adventures of the Bastable Children in Search of a Fortune, The Wouldbegoods, The New Treasure Seekers (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press), Oswald Bastable and Others). If anyone has read and enjoyed "The Exiles," I would HIGHLY recommend they check out the other six books that I just mentioned. I do have the two sequels to this book at hand, and I'm looking forward to reading them as well. I'm not sure about the dust jacket illustration for this book, however. It's not bad, but it makes this title look like some sort of rather poignant story, rather than the comic story it is.

This hilarious book is great for cheering anyone up. Ruth, Naomi, Rachel and Phoebe are the best characters in any book I have read. I have read The Exiles, The Exiles at Home and The Exiles in Love over and over again. I recommend this book to anyone who anyone with a sense of humour and fun, as it's one the most enjoyable boos I have ever read.

This is probably one of my favourite books and I've read it over and over again. It was really, really funny - especially Rachel, who's my favourite character. The Exiles at Home was also excellent! I just hope that Hilary McKay writes lots more stories about the Conroy girls!

The four Conroy sisters are all bright, silly, oblivious, friendly, impatient, in other words, they're people. Like the people we really know, the girls are upset when their parents decided to pack them off to their fearsome Big Grandma after an unexpected financial windfall allows their parents to improve the home. It's not so much their eccentric grandma the girls object to, its the unfairness of their parenets in not sharing the money! Sent to the northern English coast they manage to survive their vacation without the emotional traumas required of most current childrens books. There is plenty of adventure with fire, water, falls, the locals and the continuing search for reading material. Big Grandma considers her granddaughters to be far too self-centered and only permits them to bring two books a piece to her home. The continuing battle of wills provides amusement and horror to those who won't consider going out-of-town without three novels and a magazine.