Michelle.Magorian Goodnight Mister Tom EN

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ÿþGoodnight Mister Tom is a novel by Michelle Magorian. It follows a young boy, William Beech, who is 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 with the help of Zach

Two musicals based on the book have been written and a 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, which opened in early 2011.

Summary

The book is set between September 1939 and the spring of 1941. As Britain stands on the edge of World War II, many young children from the cities are sent into the countryside to escape the German bombardment. William "Willie" Beech, a boy from London, is one of these children.

William is an unhappy, depressed child, physically and emotionally abused by his violent and religious mother (widowed some years earlier)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"

He arrives at the home of Mr. Thomas Oakley, a widower in his sixties who lives in the village of Little Weirwold. The boy is thinly clad, underfed and covered with painful bruises, and believing he is full of sin, a result of his upbringing by his mother. Realising that William comes from an abusive home, Mr. Tom treats him with kindness and understanding, while also helping to educate him by reading him Bible passages and teaching him to write.

William starts improving and progressing, as he begins to trust Mr. Tom and the world around him. When he goes to school he forms a small circle of friends among his classmates: Zach, George, Carrie, and Ginnie. He also becomes proficient in drawing and dramatics. As William is changed by Mr. Tom, so is Mr. Tom transformed by William's presence in his home. It is revealed that Mr. Tom lost Rachel, his wife, and soon afterwards his baby son, to scarletina some 40 years earlier, and he has become reclusive because of it. The villagers avoid him because of his apparent coldness. Mr. Tom is driven to show his kind nature because of the boy's needs and finally overcomes a major personal barrier by entering an art store, something he had previously found difficult as Rachel had been a painter.

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 and needs him back at home for a while. 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 Mr. Tom, feeling that he has not been disciplined properly. While William has been away, she has become pregnant and had a girl, but is neglecting the baby. After a bad reunion (in which she is furious with him for making a Jewish friend in Zach, and William pointing out that Jesus was a Jew) she slaps him, and then inquires as to where he got the art set from. She accuses him of stealing it, throws William against a bookcase, knocking him out, then ties, gags him, and locks him, with the baby, in a cupboard under the stairs.

Soon afterwards, Mr. 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 of Deptford and eventually his home. No-one answers the door when he knocks, but he persuades the local policeman to break down the door, where they are greeted by a vile stench. There he finds William locked in the closet, holding a small, still bundle; the dead baby girl his mother had given birth to. An empty bottle is at his feet. William is malnourished and badly bruised, with a chronic illness, as he had been locked under the stairs for a number of days. When he realises that the baby is dead, he blames himself for the baby's death and can hardly speak. Later, when his favourite teacher Annie Hartridge has her baby, William is shocked to learn from Zach that a woman cannot conceive a child on her own, and realises that his mother was having a relationship with a man, even though she had previously told him that it was wrong for unmarried couples to live together or have children together.

Mr. Tom, William and Zach enjoy a holiday at Salmouth, a small seaside village, where they stay in the house of a widow whose sons have been sent out to war.

William goes to the hospital, where he is treated very badly and experiences terrible nightmares, mainly about the doctor. 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. Mr. Tom 'kidnaps' William from the hospital and takes him back to Little Weirworld. However, Mr. Tom is traced by the authorities, who have come to tell William that his mother has committed suicide and offer him a place in a children's home, as they've been unable to trace any other relatives who may have been able to take care of him. Luckily the authorities realise that William has already found a good home and allow Mr. Tom to adopt him.

Zach then receives news that his father has been injured by a Luftwaffe bomb in London and he hurries home on the next train saying farewell to all his friends. This is the last time they hear from him. William later learns that Zach has been killed and is grief-stricken for some time. Eventually, Doctor Little, the village doctor, who was Zach's guardian while being evacuated, gives William Zach's bike. Through learning to ride it, William realises that Zach lives on inside him.

In the ending scene William learns to ride the bike by going down a hill and sees Mr. Tom waiting for him. They both embrace each other and William, happily, calls him Dad.

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