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{{Short description|1981 children's novel by Michelle Magorian}}
{{For|the television adaptation|Goodnight Mister Tom (1998 film)}}
{{For|related adaptations|Goodnight Mister Tom (film)|Goodnight Mister Tom (play)}}
{{Cleanup|date=July 2009}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2017}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{infobox Book | <!-- See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]] or [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Books]] -->
{{infobox book |
⚫
| name = Goodnight Mister Tom
| image = [[File:Goodnight Mr Tom 1981 book cover.jpg|200px]]
| name = Good Night Mr. Tom
⚫
| image_caption = First edition cover
| author = [[Michelle Magorian]]
| author = [[Michelle Magorian]]
⚫
| image = File:Goodnight Mr Tom 1981 book cover.jpg
| illustrator = anaa kcamow
⚫
| caption = First edition
| genre = [[Children's literature|Children's]] historical novel
| publisher = [[Viking Press|Kestrel Books]] <!-- Talk: Viking Press#Imprints discussion may be relevant -->
⚫
| pub_date = 1981
| cover_artist = Angelo Renaldi
| cover_artist = Angelo Renaldi
⚫
| media_type = Print (hardback and paperback)
| country = [[United Kingdom]]
⚫
| pages = 304 pp (first edition) <!-- WorldCat -->
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series =
| isbn = 0-7226-5701-3
| genre = [[Historical novel]]
| publisher = [[Kestrel Books]]
⚫
| release_date = 1981
| english_release_date =
⚫
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]])
⚫
| pages = 304 pp (first edition, hardback)
| isbn = 0722657013
| oclc = 9987640
| oclc = 9987640
| congress = PZ7.M275 Go 1981<ref name=LCC>
[http://lccn.loc.gov/80008444 "Goodnight, Mister Tom"] (first U.S. edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 4 August 2012. With a later publisher description.</ref><!-- 318pp 0060240784 -->
| preceded_by =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
| followed_by =
}}
}}
'''''Goodnight Mister Tom''''' is a children's novel by English author [[Michelle Magorian]], published by Kestrel in 1981. [[Harper & Row]] published an American edition the same year.<ref name=LCC/> Set during [[World War II]], it features a boy abused at home in London who is evacuated to the country at the outbreak of the war. In the care of Mister Tom, an elderly recluse, he experiences a new life of loving and care.


Magorian and ''Mister Tom'' won the annual once-or-lifetime [[Guardian Children's Fiction Prize]], judged by a panel of British children's writers.<ref name=relaunch/> She was also a commended runner-up for the [[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]] from the [[CILIP|British librarians]], recognising the year's best English-language children's book published in the UK.<ref name=ccsu/><ref group=lower-alpha name=HC/>
'''''Goodnight Mister Tom''''' (also '''''Good Night, Mr Tom''''') is a 1981 [[novel]] by [[Michelle Magorian]]. It follows a young boy, William Beech, who is [[Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II|evacuated from London]] during the Blitz of [[World War II]], and put into the care of Tom Oakley, an elderly recluse. Thanks to Tom, William Beech is able to experience a new life of loving and care.


The novel has been [[theatrical adaptation|adapted as a stage musical]] and [[film adaptation|as the film]] ''[[Goodnight Mister Tom (film)|Goodnight Mister Tom]]'' (1998). In 2003, it was listed at #49 on the [[BBC]]'s survey [[The Big Read]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml "BBC – The Big Read"]. BBC. April 2003. Retrieved 11 November 2012</ref> The most recent theatrical adaptation, ''[[Goodnight Mister Tom (play)|Goodnight Mister Tom]]'', won the [[Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.olivierawards.com/news/view/item183898/curious-night-at-the-oliviers/ |title=Curious Night at the Oliviers |access-date=29 April 2013 |date=28 April 2013 |publisher=[[Olivier Awards]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501073004/http://www.olivierawards.com/news/view/item183898/curious-night-at-the-oliviers |archive-date=1 May 2013 }}</ref>
Two musicals based on the book have been written and a [[Goodnight Mister Tom (1998 film) | film has been made]]. There is also a new play of Goodnight Mister Tom, adapted for the stage by national children's dramatist David Wood, opening in early 2011.


== Summary==
==Plot==
In September 1939, as Britain stands on the brink of the war, many young children from the cities are [[Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II|evacuated to the countryside]] to escape imminent German bombardment. William Beech, a boy from [[Deptford]] who is physically and emotionally abused by his mother, arrives at the village of Little Weirwold. Willie is timid, thin, and covered with bruises and sores. He also believes he is full of sin, thanks to his strict, religious, and mentally unstable mother. He wets the bed every day.


Tom Oakley is a reclusive and crabby widower in his sixties. He is avoided by the community and vice versa. William's mother wanted William to live with someone who was either religious or lived near a church. However, it is Tom who takes in Willie. Though initially distant, Tom is moved after discovering William's home life and treats him with kindness. William grows attached to Tom and his dog, Sammy.
As Britain stands on the brink of the Second World War, many young children are sent into the countryside to escape the German bombardment.
William "Willie" Beech is one of these children. An unhappy, deprived child, he finds kindness and love in the home of Mr Thomas Oakley, who lives in the village of Little Weirwold. The book is set between September 1939 and the spring of 1941.


William attends school and makes friends with George, twins Carrie and Ginnie, and especially with fellow evacuee Zach. William learns to read and write with the help of Tom and others, and demonstrates a talent in drawing, painting and dramatics. As William is changed by Tom, so too is Tom transformed by William. It is revealed that Tom lost his wife and baby son to [[scarlatina]] (scarlet fever) forty years ago.
The protagonist, William, is a child who is physically and emotionally abused by his violent & religious mother. He arrives at Tom's house, thinly clad, underfed and covered with painful bruises, and believing he is full of sin, a result of his upbringing by his mother who inflicts severe punishments and uses excuses such as "If you do such a thing, you will go to hell" and "That is a sin."


William's mother writes that she is sick and requests that William return to her. Tom is reluctant to leave him but still allows it. At first, William looks forward to helping his mother and showing her his accomplishments. However, she is annoyed to hear about his time away, as he has not been learning the Bible by rote and has been receiving gifts and attention from others. She shows him her newborn daughter, who is lying neglected in a box. Furious to hear about his association with the [[British Jews|Jewish]] Zach, and to hear William speaking up for himself, she accuses him of lying, theft and [[blasphemy]] and knocks him unconscious. William regains consciousness to find himself in the cupboard under the stairs, stripped down to his underwear, with his ankle twisted. He quietly sobs for Tom before falling asleep.
However, Mr Tom, as William calls him, does not punish William as his mother had. Tom shows him an understanding he has not previously experienced. Although William wets the bed for some time after moving into the house, Tom merely helps him change the bedding without complaint. Having seen William's bruises, and realising that William comes from an abusive home, Tom helps the boy through many challenges and gives him a healthy, happy home. Willie is addressed as "William" by Tom and "Will" by his friends. William Beech is improving and progressing a lot with the help and comfort of Mr Tom.


Weeks after William's departure, Tom feels something is not right, as William has not written. Although he has never travelled far, he takes the train into London and eventually finds [[Deptford]] and William's home. The house appears to be empty, but Sammy is agitated by something inside. Tom persuades a local policeman to break down the door. They find William chained to a pipe in the closet with the baby girl, who has died. William is malnourished and badly bruised as he had been locked there in the cupboard for days. William is hospitalised. Whilst there, he suffers horrific nightmares and is drugged to prevent his screams from disturbing other children's sleep. Tom hears that William will be taken to a children's home. He kidnaps William from the hospital and takes him back to Little Weirwold.
William begins to trust Tom and the world around him. When William goes to school he is astonished that the children and teachers support and care for him. He forms a small circle of friends among a few of his classmates: Zach, George, Carrie, and Ginnie. He is also fond of one of his teachers Annie Hartridge.


William remains bedridden and traumatised by his ordeal. He blames himself for the death of his sister, as he was not able to give her enough milk. Zach visits him daily. William grows stronger and visits his favourite teacher, Annie Hartridge. From Annie and Zach, William learns that he could not have fed a baby on his own and that a woman cannot conceive a child on her own. He realises his mother had sex with a man, although she had told him that it was a sin for unmarried men and women to consort. He no longer blames himself for his sister's death.
As William is changed by Tom, so is Tom transformed by William's presence in his home. It is revealed that Mr. Tom lost Rachel, his wife, and child to [[Scarletina]] 40 years earlier, and he has become reclusive because of it. The villagers avoid him because of his apparent coldness, however, when William arrives, Mr. Tom immediately demonstrates his kind nature by acquiring good, warm clothing and nourishing food, specially cooked breakfasts and tea. He helps to educate William by reading him Bible passages and teaching him to write. Finally Tom overcomes a major personal barrier by entering an art store, something he had previously found difficult as Rachel had been a painter. William becomes proficient in drawing and dramatics in the village.


The authorities arrive from London to tell William that his mother has committed suicide. They want to take him to a children's home, as he has no other relatives. Tom intervenes and (after much persuasion) is allowed to adopt William. Tom, William, and Zach enjoy a holiday at the seaside village of Salmouth, where the landlady of their cottage mistakes William as Tom's son. Zach receives news that his father has been injured by German bombing. Zach hurries back to London by train. Not long after, Zach dies in [[The Blitz]]. William is grief-stricken.
The growing bond between the two is upset when William's mother requests that the boy return to her in the city, telling him she is sick. At first, William thinks this will be a good thing, so he can be helpful to his mother. However his mother is not pleased to learn the details of his time with Tom. While William has been away, she has become pregnant and had a baby, to whom she has been immensely cruel. After a bad reunion she throws William against a bookcase, purposely knocking him out, then ties, gags him, and locks him, with the baby, in a cupboard under the stairs.


William heals through his friendship with another recluse, Geoffrey Sanderton, a young man who lost a leg during the war and who gives William private art lessons. After Geoffrey shares a photo of his own best friend, who is also dead, William begins to come to terms with Zach's death. Using Zach's bike, William teaches himself to ride. He realises that Zach will always be a part of him. William also grows closer to Carrie as they bond over Zach's memories.
Tom has a premonition that something is not right with William. Although he has never travelled beyond his immediate locality, he ventures into London and, with luck, locates William's neighbourhood and then his home. No-one answers the door when he knocks, but he persuades the local policeman to break down the door.


One night, on returning home to Tom, whom he now calls "Dad", William thinks back on how much his life has changed since arriving in Little Weirwold and realises he is growing up.
There he finds William locked in the closet, holding a small, still bundle: a dead baby girl named Trudy. An empty bottle is at his feet. William is malnourished and badly bruised, as he had been locked under the stairs for several weeks after a savage beating. He blames himself for the baby's death and can hardly speak. William is shocked to learn that a woman cannot conceive on her own, so his mother was having a relationship with another man (she had previously taught him that such relationships are sin). It is later discovered that she has committed suicide.


==Awards==
William goes to the hospital, where he is treated awfully and experiences terrible nightmares. The nurse then comes round and drugs him so he'll fall asleep and stop screaming, though he'll wake up a few hours later and the process will be repeated. Tom 'kidnaps' William from the hospital and takes him back to Little Weirworld. However, Tom is traced by the authorities, who have come to offer William a place in a children's home after the death of his mother and in the absence of any other relatives. Luckily the authorities realise that William has already found a good home and allow Tom to adopt him.
* Commended, The Carnegie Medal 1981
* The Guardian Fiction Award 1982
* International Reading Association Award 1982
* Runner-up for The Young Observer Prize 1982
* Western Australian Young Readers Book Award 1982


==Notes==
Soon afterwards, Tom, William and Zach enjoy a holiday at Salmouth, a small seaside village. They have such a good time and Zach renames the village Salt-on-the-Mouth.
{{reflist |group=lower-alpha |refs=
<ref group=lower-alpha name=HC>
Since 1995 there are usually eight books on the Carnegie shortlist.
According to CCSU some runners up through 2002 were Commended (from 1955) or Highly Commended (from 1966). There were about 160 commendations of both kinds in 48 years, including three for 1981 (one highly commended).</ref>
}}


==References==
Zach's father is injured by a German bomb and he hurries home on the next train saying farewell to all his friends.
{{reflist |refs=

<ref name=relaunch>
William later learns that Zach has been killed and is grief-stricken for some time. Carrie, Ginnie, and George are also extremely upset. Eventually, through learning to ride Zach's bike, William realises that Zach lives on inside him.
[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/12/guardianchildrensfictionprize2001.guardianchildrensfictionprize "Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners"]. ''The Guardian'' 12 March 2001. Retrieved 4 August 2012.</ref>
<ref name=ccsu>
[http://web.ccsu.edu/library/nadeau/award%20books/CarnegieMedal.htm "Carnegie Medal Award"]. 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. [[Central Connecticut State University]] ('''CCSU'''). Retrieved 4 August 2012.</ref>
}}


==External links==
==External links==
* {{worldcat |oclc=476568558 }} —immediately, first US edition
*[http://www.michellemagorian.com/goodnightmistertom.htm Official Website]
*[http://www.michellemagorian.com/ Author's Website]
* {{official website |https://michellemagorian.com/the-colours-of-goodnight-mister-tom/ |On ''Goodnight Mister Tom'' by the author}}


[[Category:British novels]]
[[Category:British children's novels]]
[[Category:World War II novels]]
[[Category:Novels set during World War II]]
[[Category:1981 novels]]
[[Category:Guardian Children's Fiction Prize–winning works]]
[[Category:1981 British novels]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into television shows]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into plays]]

[[Category:1981 children's books]]
[[fi:Willie itkupilli]]
[[Category:1981 debut novels]]
[[sv:Godnatt, mister Tom]]
[[Category:Children's books set in the United Kingdom]]
[[ru:Спокойной ночи, мистер Том]]

Latest revision as of 19:23, 2 November 2024

For related adaptations, see Goodnight Mister Tom (film) and Goodnight Mister Tom (play).

Good Night Mr. Tom
First edition
AuthorMichelle Magorian
Cover artistAngelo Renaldi
GenreChildren's historical novel
PublisherKestrel Books
Publication date
1981
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Pages304 pp (first edition)
ISBN0-7226-5701-3
OCLC9987640
LC ClassPZ7.M275 Go 1981[1]

Goodnight Mister Tom is a children's novel by English author Michelle Magorian, published by Kestrel in 1981. Harper & Row published an American edition the same year.[1] Set during World War II, it features a boy abused at home in London who is evacuated to the country at the outbreak of the war. In the care of Mister Tom, an elderly recluse, he experiences a new life of loving and care.

Magorian and Mister Tom won the annual once-or-lifetime Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, judged by a panel of British children's writers.[2] She was also a commended runner-up for the Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognising the year's best English-language children's book published in the UK.[3][a]

The novel has been adapted as a stage musical and as the film Goodnight Mister Tom (1998). In 2003, it was listed at #49 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.[4] The most recent theatrical adaptation, Goodnight Mister Tom, won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.[5]

Plot

[edit]

In September 1939, as Britain stands on the brink of the war, many young children from the cities are evacuated to the countryside to escape imminent German bombardment. William Beech, a boy from Deptford who is physically and emotionally abused by his mother, arrives at the village of Little Weirwold. Willie is timid, thin, and covered with bruises and sores. He also believes he is full of sin, thanks to his strict, religious, and mentally unstable mother. He wets the bed every day.

Tom Oakley is a reclusive and crabby widower in his sixties. He is avoided by the community and vice versa. William's mother wanted William to live with someone who was either religious or lived near a church. However, it is Tom who takes in Willie. Though initially distant, Tom is moved after discovering William's home life and treats him with kindness. William grows attached to Tom and his dog, Sammy.

William attends school and makes friends with George, twins Carrie and Ginnie, and especially with fellow evacuee Zach. William learns to read and write with the help of Tom and others, and demonstrates a talent in drawing, painting and dramatics. As William is changed by Tom, so too is Tom transformed by William. It is revealed that Tom lost his wife and baby son to scarlatina (scarlet fever) forty years ago.

William's mother writes that she is sick and requests that William return to her. Tom is reluctant to leave him but still allows it. At first, William looks forward to helping his mother and showing her his accomplishments. However, she is annoyed to hear about his time away, as he has not been learning the Bible by rote and has been receiving gifts and attention from others. She shows him her newborn daughter, who is lying neglected in a box. Furious to hear about his association with the Jewish Zach, and to hear William speaking up for himself, she accuses him of lying, theft and blasphemy and knocks him unconscious. William regains consciousness to find himself in the cupboard under the stairs, stripped down to his underwear, with his ankle twisted. He quietly sobs for Tom before falling asleep.

Weeks after William's departure, Tom feels something is not right, as William has not written. Although he has never travelled far, he takes the train into London and eventually finds Deptford and William's home. The house appears to be empty, but Sammy is agitated by something inside. Tom persuades a local policeman to break down the door. They find William chained to a pipe in the closet with the baby girl, who has died. William is malnourished and badly bruised as he had been locked there in the cupboard for days. William is hospitalised. Whilst there, he suffers horrific nightmares and is drugged to prevent his screams from disturbing other children's sleep. Tom hears that William will be taken to a children's home. He kidnaps William from the hospital and takes him back to Little Weirwold.

William remains bedridden and traumatised by his ordeal. He blames himself for the death of his sister, as he was not able to give her enough milk. Zach visits him daily. William grows stronger and visits his favourite teacher, Annie Hartridge. From Annie and Zach, William learns that he could not have fed a baby on his own and that a woman cannot conceive a child on her own. He realises his mother had sex with a man, although she had told him that it was a sin for unmarried men and women to consort. He no longer blames himself for his sister's death.

The authorities arrive from London to tell William that his mother has committed suicide. They want to take him to a children's home, as he has no other relatives. Tom intervenes and (after much persuasion) is allowed to adopt William. Tom, William, and Zach enjoy a holiday at the seaside village of Salmouth, where the landlady of their cottage mistakes William as Tom's son. Zach receives news that his father has been injured by German bombing. Zach hurries back to London by train. Not long after, Zach dies in The Blitz. William is grief-stricken.

William heals through his friendship with another recluse, Geoffrey Sanderton, a young man who lost a leg during the war and who gives William private art lessons. After Geoffrey shares a photo of his own best friend, who is also dead, William begins to come to terms with Zach's death. Using Zach's bike, William teaches himself to ride. He realises that Zach will always be a part of him. William also grows closer to Carrie as they bond over Zach's memories.

One night, on returning home to Tom, whom he now calls "Dad", William thinks back on how much his life has changed since arriving in Little Weirwold and realises he is growing up.

Awards

[edit]
  • Commended, The Carnegie Medal 1981
  • The Guardian Fiction Award 1982
  • International Reading Association Award 1982
  • Runner-up for The Young Observer Prize 1982
  • Western Australian Young Readers Book Award 1982

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Since 1995 there are usually eight books on the Carnegie shortlist. According to CCSU some runners up through 2002 were Commended (from 1955) or Highly Commended (from 1966). There were about 160 commendations of both kinds in 48 years, including three for 1981 (one highly commended).

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Goodnight, Mister Tom" (first U.S. edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 4 August 2012. With a later publisher description.
  2. ^ "Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners". The Guardian 12 March 2001. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  3. ^ "Carnegie Medal Award". 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  4. ^ "BBC – The Big Read". BBC. April 2003. Retrieved 11 November 2012
  5. ^ "Curious Night at the Oliviers". Olivier Awards. 28 April 2013. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
[edit]
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