Goodnight Mister Tom

3
Reviewer's Rating

Goodnight Mister Tom is the compassionate tale of a young boy who is sent to the countryside as a result of the bombings during the Second World War. He arrives psychologically and physically damaged, having endured a childhood of obsessive, religious dogmas and beatings from an unstable mother. But when he moves to Dorset with the old and grumpy Tom Oakley, he quickly adapts to country life. The audience witnesses how William Beech learns how to read and write through the tender affection of Tom Oakely, a love that seems to bring out the best in this once reclusive, widower. However, just as this organic friendship builds and grows into a special bond, it suddenly comes to a tragic end when William is sent back to London into the hands of his evil mother who eventually abandons him with a baby. It is up to Tom Oakely to save the boy lest he disappears into the abyss of the Second World War.

Goodnight Mister Tom is the winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and is now a world – wide literary favourite, having won the BAFTA starring John Thaw and now gracing the West End. It is a must see, a story that will inspire and teach an important lesson of compassion even in the bleakest of times when all else seems to be but chaos and darkness, there is still love and life.