Age 9+

Twenty years after the Lost Boys have left Neverland, Judge Tootles, Dr Curly and the Honourable Slightly dream that something is wrong there. They decide, with Wendy and John, to revert to childhood and go back. (Michael is another story.) They find Neverland contaminated by seeping Time, its eternal summer has become autumn, and Peter’s tunic of green leaves is now scarlet and gold. Language-loving McCaughrean balances abstract and concrete in dextrous imitation of JM Barrie: “They got down old suitcases from the attics and took out all the courage they owned.” She understands that Neverland is a landscape of the mind and an extension of childhood play: from Neverpeak you can see “as far back as you choose to remember, and as far as wherever you mean to go next”. She brings back Captain Hook and Tinkerbell, but plays down Barrie’s concern with the competition for Peter’s romantic attention. Making copious use of arresting metaphor (“They ran until their lungs hung inside them like dead bats in a cave”), she is funny, creative, clever, nostalgic and sound about mothers. A delight.

(OUP £12.99)

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