cover image All Our Yesterdays

All Our Yesterdays

Stuart Buchan. Harlequin Books, $2.25 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-373-98006-2

Julie returns to the place of her childhood, Malaya, after spending 10 years in England. She and her mother had fled the country when she was five, without her father, who was incarcerated with the other British during World War II. He lived for the day when his family would return to him, but Julie's mother died. It's a changed man who welcomes Julie; she also finds a boy she knew as a child, Douglas, and begins, somewhat warily, to love him. But the war has touched everyone; in showing this, Buchan has created some distinct characters, alone with their many troubled secrets. The use of antiquated, plot-stopping phrases (e.g., Douglas blushes ""like a naughty boy caught stealing chocolate'') mars an otherwise moving story. Ages 11-up. (August)