A Pitiful Place
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Cover Story
The illustration on our cover is from Ben and the Bear, written and illustrated by Chris Riddell (0 7445 0480 5, £2.95), a title from a new series of Fun-to-Read Picture Books published by Walker Books. We are grateful to Walker Books for help in using this illustration.
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A Pitiful Place
Bitter, bleak, brutal stories to disturb and provoke. The longest has a teenager losing access to her baby. There's the letter Wally will never send from Belfast to a teacher who urged him not to join the army. After VSO in Africa, Dru's maturity reassures her parents but she cannot tolerate for long their 'smug consensus'. Young Milly is proud to be in a Paki-hating gang -'We're the Master Race' - but she is the one left with the injured Polish Jew. The pitiful place is a South Atlantic island where the crew of an assault boat die, unsung and not even heroes. 'Cutting sailors' throats, old son. That's what we were going to do, for the glory of old England.' It's also Britain, now.