How I Live Now: Meg Rosoff

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However, life begins to change when Aunt Penn leaves the children alone for a few days to attend an anti-war conference in Oslo. That same day, a huge bomb is detonated in London, killing dozens of people. After the bomb detonates, occupying soldiers rush into England, and a full-fledged war begins. As soldiers make their way deeper and deeper into the countryside, Daisy expresses her romantic feelings for her cousin, Edmond, who reciprocates them. They begin a teenaged romance, made more dramatic by the fact that Aunt Penn has not come home, and the soldiers are still approaching.

My name is Elizabeth but no one’s ever called me that. My father took one look at me when I was born and must have thought I had the face of someone dignified and sad like an old-fashioned queen or a dead person, but what I turned out like is plain, not much there to notice. Even my life so far has been plain. More Daisy than Elizabeth from the word go. Several people have objected to the relationship between Edmund and Daisy, saying it was incestuous. Hum. Wikipedia tells us that 50% of Saudi Arabian marriages are to 1st and 2nd cousins – undoubtedly as a result of this, all states in the Persian Gulf require genetic screening for all couples. The BBC has said that 55% of British Pakistans are married to 1st cousins. Even our Victorian hero Charles Darwin and his wife were first cousins. I don’t think it’s the perfect situation, but it sometimes happens. Especially as in this instance Daisy and Edmund did not know one another. They were not brought up as ‘family’, with the taboos this usually engenders in western cultures.Years a Slave' Leads London Critics' Circle Film Awards Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. 17 December 2013 . Retrieved 21 December 2013. Oh... and there is a very graphic sex scene (that gets replayed over the course of the movie) between Daisy and Edmond (who slowly fall in love in the book, but decide that they are in love over the course of a few days in the movie although they have never had a conversation). Yes, they are cousins. Step-cousins, if that makes you feel better.

There’s still no Aunt Penn but Edmond introduces me to the rest of my cousins, who are called Isaac and Osbert and Piper, which I won’t even begin to comment on. Isaac is Edmond’s twin, and they look exactly the same, only Isaac’s eyes are green and Edmond’s are the same colour as the sky, which at the moment is gray. At first I liked Piper best because she just looked straight at me and said We are very glad you’ve come Elizabeth. Daisy, I corrected her, and she nodded in a solemn kind of way that made me feel sure she’d remember. Kim Mai Guest is a narrator for this audiobook and damn! If it wasn't one of the best female voice performance I'd ever heard! As Daisy, she is this side of perfect: smooth reading with a little flippancy thrown in which was exactly how I imagine Daisy's voice would be. Hello Edmond, I said, nice to meet you, and I look at him hard to try to get a feel for what my new life with my cousins might be like.I didn't seem to have that effect on anyone but it would have been a waste for both of us to be saints."