Hollow City: the Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

1940s London, England was not a safe place for children, specially for children who had no safe place to stay nor an adult to watch out for them.  Jacob and the other Peculiar children have fled their previously safe haven on Cairnholm Island and are headed toward London seeking help for their teacher/guardian Miss Peregrine.  Aside from dodging bombs, they have to avoid the hollows and wights who are pursuing them.  Having had little contact with the outside world, the children don't know who to trust.

I was kept on the edge of my seat as I followed their adventures.  After having led such an isolated existence, I thought they would have few survival skills.  But, I forgot, they are old, many decades older than their appearance would suggest.  They have learned much over that time and it has come in useful in their travels.

Looking back on the story, I am amazed at how readily I accepted the peculiar children and their unique skills.   That whole time period  is fantastic to me; I couldn't imagine living day to day with bombs dropping around me every evening.  Why should these children be more outlandish that the bombings.

Authentic photos are scattered throughout the book.  I found myself captivated by them and wondering that they must have been set up, posed to match the story.  But no, that is not the case, they are all actual photos that the author and his acquaintances have collected.  They really do help to bring the story to life.

This book will appeal to a wide range of readers from young teens to adults and to seniors who lived through those turbulent years during the war.

Website for author Ransom Riggs

Read my earlier review of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Thanks to Quirk Books for use of the cover image.