No Safe Harbour by Julie Lawson

Amanda’s (10 years) book review of “No Safe Harbor” by Julie Lawson

The book I read is about a very gruesome and devastating event; the explosion that took place in the Halifax harbor in 1917 when two ships collided. It is written in diary form so it is from one girl, Charlotte Blackburn’s, point of view.
The book starts off with a letter from her brother, Luke, who is off fighting in the war in France. He is the one who sent her the diary. Then Charlotte begins her entries. She has a pretty normal life, with a mom and a dad, one older brother (Luke), two older sisters (Edith and Ruth), a twin brother (Duncan), and a dog (Kristy). She does the milk run every Thursday with an elderly man named Haggarty. She receives a letter from her brother almost monthly about his horrific life in the trenches.
Then the explosion occurred killing her mom, dad, and two older sisters. Charlotte’s twin was found alive and was healed. Her mother’s last words, “father……young” allowed her to find her long lost grandparents. Charlotte’s brother came home from the war as he was injured in a road side bomb, although he must return when he is healed.
So in the end she lives a good life with her twin and grandparents. I love how she described how the state of the pages helped tell the story in her dairy, so I will quote:
At the very beginning a few blotches of mud
from the trenches in France. Then nine
weeks or so of crisp, buff-colored pages marching
along in an orderly way, one day at a time.
For a month after that the pages are streaked with tears and
horribly marked with blood and soot. Little by little they begin to clear up, and in
the last few entries the pages are clean.
But the cover is scarred, like me.

From the Blog Administrator: Thanks for sending me this beautiful review. I put it in post form so many other 10 year old kids can see it and might be inspired to read it too.