The Exiles at Home

This story just cracks me up. Sisters Ruth, Naomi, Rachel and Phoebe get into trouble once again, this time by "adopting" an African boy and pledging ten pounds a month for his schooling. Though it's Ruth who makes the initial commitment, all the sisters gradually get sucked in and pull the most amazing stunts to earn enough money each month. I think my favorite one is when Rachel and Phoebe decide to sell extra lunches at their school, sandwiches made in a shed and occasionally contaminated with dog hair. I couldn't stop thinking--doesn't their mother notice that she's running out of bread three times as fast? But then my own son had a scheme of selling soda pop in the lunchroom, fifty cents each, and it was all so entrepreneurial.... Anyway, the girls are delightful as ever, and the ending is sweet and touching if slightly unbelievable; it made me cry a little.

Ruth impulsively uses her Christmas money to sign up to sponsor a child in Africa for a year. Now, she must come up with ten pounds a month and she is perennially short of cash. She lied about her age on the application and is terrified of letting her parents know what she has gotten herself into. Her sisters come to her aid, engaging in a number of inventive and harebrained schemes to raise money. They get help from unexpected quarters as their obsession with Africa grows with each letter they receive from the boy they are sponsoring.

This book so far eclipsed the first one I'd almost recommend reading it first except that you'd be disappointed when you went back and read the first. I was in stitches the entire way through. All the best parts of E. Nesbit's books without the generous helping of secondhand embarrassment.

If you liked _The Story of the Treasure Seekers_ by E Nesbit, you will like this book. Ruth, the oldest of a family of four girls, is captivated by an ad for an agency which supports young schoolchildren in Africa. She impulsively spends her entire Christmas gift money on the first month's support for a child, who turns out to be an endearingly grateful little Kenyan boy named Joseck. She enlists her sister Naomi in helping her (which for complicated reasons has to be kept secret from everyone else, but almost every plan they come up with ends in chaos and confusion. It is almost unflaggingly funny or touching--often both.

The cover says "earnest", and also "heartfelt", maybe even "moving". What it doesn't say is "funny". It's the British Penderwicks, not a problem novel about a parent off at war. But just for fun, feel free to share what the cover image makes you think the book will be about.<br /><br />Library copy

I don´t remember the last book which made me laugh out loud so loud (maybe vintage Wodehouse. maybe). Perhaps my sense of humour is twisted but I found it hilarious. And moving.

Ruth Conroy, in one of her ditzy moments, has ended up sponsoring a small boy from Africa for which she will have to fish out 10GBP every month. But Ruth is not yet an adult with vast amounts of money at her disposable. As she frets about how she will raise the money, her nutty sisters rise, at first reluctantly and then rather valiantly, to the effort. In true Conroy sibling style, the most bizarre money-making schemes are hatched and deployed, often to disastrous results. <br /><br />But the madcap girls with their eccentric individual personalities have kind, solid hearts. When one of their convoluted schemes brings them into the orbit of a lonely old couple, they inadvertently bring laughter and companionship along with them too.<br /><br />I adore this series. The Conroy girls aren’t the most sensible siblings in the world. And yet, their silliness is finely tempered by their innate goodness. The dialogue, as always, is hilarious and engaging.

The shambolic and often shameless Conroy sisters return in this warm, sweet, funny sequel to The Exiles.<br /><br />The novel centres Ruth's secret attempts to raise £10 a month to send to her sponsor child Josek, in Kenya. Before too long, Naomi, then Rachel and Phoebe are drawn into this clandestine charitable endeavour, which quickly devolves in petty crimes, property damage, and generally morally questionable behaviour. <br /><br />Naomi's fund raising effort involves gardening for an elderly couple, Toby and Emma. The sisters soon recognise that Toby and Emma they cannot take money from the poor older couple, showing their true kindness, generosity and love by becoming the pair's friends instead. <br /><br />The antics and honest sisterly interactions are laugh out loud funny, with a tender, hopeful core. An absolute corker on audiobook!

I just love the Conroy sisters and their shenanigans. In this book the girls are desperate to get cash to send to the boy, Joseck, whose education Ruth is sponsoring in Kenya by sending 10 pounds a month. Some of the ways they get cash are a little ... less than ethical, but they are all hilarious. I enjoyed this book at least as much as the first one and think it's even funnier than the first--I can't actually remember the last time I laughed out loud so much while reading. And the ending is way more touching than I expected based on the first book--I teared up a little.<br /><br />A funny read and I think McKay really gets how kids think and act.

It’s a comedy and a drama book, I loved the fact that it made me feel that the family that was in the book wasn’t imaginary it’s just the type of family that I would want in a book. I would want to read the whole series but I don’t really mind that much. It’s the type of book that I really would recommend to drama and comedy lovers.