Age 11+

Shirley Hughes has created a new kind of nonfiction with this combination of sketchbook and history book. Every second year of the first half of the 20th century is represented by a double-page colour illustration in gouache and chalk of a scene in Europe or America: in a trench, dance hall or cafe, at the seaside or on an emigrant ship, for instance. Each setting conveys place, time and character, and suggests a story. Alternating with these captivating tableaux are short essays, partly about the history of the year, partly about Hughes’s own feelings and recollections. Surrounding the words are captioned line drawings, indebted to Norman Rockwell and Edward Ardizzone, which illustrate the politics, arts, fashions, mores, people and events of the time, especially those whose impact is still felt today.

The eclecticism of the drawings inescapably places the grave and the frivolous side by side, but the book offers not only a useful timeline but also a valuable guide to how history used to look.

(Bodley Head £14.99)

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