LOYAL CREATURES

Few author-narrators are better than Morris Gleitzman, and he doesn't disappoint with this heartbreaking WWI novel. Sixteen-year-old Frank Ballantine persuades his father to join the war effort. Gleitzman perfectly presents the father-son relationship as they travel from Australia to Egypt. Following the custom of the time, they take their horses with them into battle. When his father is killed, Frank's conversations with his horse, Daisy, are bittersweet. Gleitzman so impeccably renders the horror of war that listeners will feel they’re on the battlefield. The greatest tragedy is being with Frank when he hears that he’ll not be taking Daisy home with him at the end of the war. Gleitzman informs listeners that he was approached by Michael Morpurgo, author of WAR HORSE, to write this companion piece. S.G.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2015]