by Lloyd Jones
First published 2008
Matilda lives in a small village on Bougainville in 1991. War creeps closer to her tropical island home, and the school has been closed for eighty-six days. Then Pop Eye, the island's only white resident, surprises everyone by reopening the classroom. The reclusive Mr Watts announces he will teach the children about Mr Dickens. Matilda and her classmates expect a visitor bearing supplies for their isolated community. Instead, they discover Mr Dickens through Mr Watts reading aloud from Great Expectations. The novel transports Matilda into Pip's world, but her fascination with fiction creates real danger. On an island where armed conflict threatens daily life, books become more than escape. Stories challenge both imagination and survival as Matilda learns that literature can carry deadly consequences in wartime.
Genres: fiction, 20th-century, adventure, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Bougainville, Pip's World
Period: 1991
274 pages · Kindle Edition
Content warnings: violence, war