The Silent Stars Go By

In Nicholls’s (All Fall Down) emotionally layered historical novel, set in 1919 after WWI, 19-year-old Margot Allen grapples with feelings of regret surrounding an unplanned pregnancy while navigating her family as they converge on their Yorkshire vicarage at Christmastime. When Margot was 16, her then-19-year-old fiancé Harry Singer went off to war; shortly thereafter, he was reported missing in action, and Margot discovered she was pregnant. To avoid social disgrace, she was secretly sent off to a mother-and-baby home to deliver her son, James, who was then raised by her parents and siblings as her brother. Now 19 and returning home from a secretarial course in Durham, Margot suffers from her vicar father’s disapproval, feels as if her internalized indignity alienates her from her tight knit siblings, and tries to avoid Harry, who survived as a POW before finally returning to Yorkshire. While Margot and Harry’s chemistry proves palpable, and their series of romantic misunderstandings provide tension, it’s Margot’s longing for James, the strain of her perceived shame, and her desire for forgiveness that underpins this deeply resonant post-war tale. All characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)