A great D.E. Stevenson read...
Set in Scotland and London, 1940s-50s.
This is the life of David Kirke from the age of nine to the early twenties. His life is framed by five different views out five different windows at places he lives during that time.
The first window is in his parents' home in rural Scotland. This is an agricultural life, pre-World War II, and David is best friends with a shepherd who lets him help with the lambs and teaches him how to make beautiful furniture. He plays with three neighbor girls and picks up on the puzzling tension in their family. At an early age, David also discovers he has a gift for writing, and his mother treasures up all his childish stories.
The second window is at his uncle's house in Edinburgh, where he attends school.
The third window is in a boarding-house in London, where he goes to live alone while working in a legal office. It's at this point in the story that your respect for David's character really grows. He's extremely nice, but he's also extremely smart, and he stands his ground rather than get "taken in" by the machinations of people who would just use him. He gives them a chance, but he doesn't let them ruin him. (In a different type of book, an author would allow David's intelligence to dim while he gets into debt and entanglements so that he can learn a lesson at the end. I'm SO GLAD D.E. Stevenson doesn't rely on that sort of cheap formula in this story. David is a character who has a backbone and a common-sense morality; he doesn't see the need to soften his standards for the sake of just being polite, or keeping fake friends. I wanted to stand up and cheer, because how often in fiction do you see a super-nice guy who also has a backbone? Lots of times the nice ones are a bit gullible.)
The fourth window is at his new flat he moves to, which is over top of a bookstore, (whoa!) with an awesome landlord that he makes immediate friends with. Now he's able to have some time for his old hobby of writing, which just may turn out to be more significant than he thought...
At this point he's also able to take a quick trip back to his parents' home in Scotland, where he continues to show how discerning he is when the evil twin of one of his best friends tries to pull some shenanigans, and he's totally not taken in. (In the afore-mentioned "other" type of book, this would have created romantic tension and miscommunication that would have lasted another hundred pages, but not here, thanks very much!)
The fifth window is in a darling little house on the outskirts of London that needs renovating.

(Read "The Tall Stranger" after this one, it has two of the same characters and ties up their story nicely. ) ( )

Very good. It follows the life of a young man from the ages of 9-25, as he grows up in Scotland, then moves to London. David is a delightful character, with a positive outlook on life. I thought that the romance aspect could have been dealt with a little better, but everything else was excellent. ( )