I was charmed by this book. Pea is the five year old heroine - a young girl whose English mother, now living in southern France, is too depressed following a late miscarriage and the death of her husband to care for Pea and her young sister Margot. Long days in the French countryside, and Pea and Margot's adventures there, are described in evocative detail. They meet a neighbour, Claude, who loves their outside kingdom as much as Pea does, and who seems to have secrets of his own ......

This book is beautifully and convincingly written from Pea's perspective. Her inner life is richly evoked, as are the sights sounds and smells of the French countryside which is her home. I was seduced by this story, and its ending ( )

It’s summer in the south of France and Pea and her sister Margot spend their days running free and inventing new games in the meadow. But Pea has worries beyond her five and a half years. Her father died suddenly and her mother had just lost a baby and is pregnant with another. Pea and Margot have tried to make life easier for their mom, but she is barely holding on living in a strange town. On one of her many runs into the meadow, Pea meets Claude and they develop a friendship. ( )

I found this lacking in substance, unless all you're looking for in a story is poetic description. There's a bit of "trompe l'oeil" central to the narrative but my oeil remained untromped...not trying to brag here but it's clear just from reading the back cover what's actually going on, and I was staggered that the author chose to hold back her 'revelation' to the last few pages. Massively underwhelmed. ( )

This was an incredible book and I honestly never foresaw the end... ( )

Writing from the perspective of a child, particularly one so young, without relying on cliche phrases or coming off childish is not an easy task. Claire King does it masterfully. She gives Pea the voice of a well-spoken adult narrator with the perfect quirks of a child. I highlighted this as one of my favorite examples.

"I haven't used the milk because it is too wet and I haven't used the jam because it doesn't rhyme with any of the other flavours."

King also does a brilliant job creating the setting for this story. I could picture every peach, stone and flower in the meadow. At the same time, I really loved that, save for a few mentions of technology, The Night Rainbow could have been set at any point in a fifty year time span. The setting of the story is so natural and doesn't rely on much much outside the central family's village.

Though I was able to piece together the novel's twist about halfway through, I didn't feel let down. This isn't the type of book you open solely for a twist. Instead, it's the type of book you read to take a journey with the characters, and this is definitely a journey. ( )