Charlie Wilcox's Great War

Charlie Wilcox #2

by Sharon E. McKay

The year is 1918. Charlie Wilcox, now 17 years old, tall, broad and mature beyond his years, returns home to Brigus, Newfoundland. He is a man now, his childhood left behind on the battlefields of France and Belgium. And he is burdened by a secret, one he fears will inflict terrible grief on the village and people he loves—people who have already suffered so much because of the Great War. Waiting for him are his parents, Sam and Lucy Wilcox, and old friends Lily Mackenzie and Mac Daniels. We meet new characters, too: Helena, a beguiling beauty with chocolate eyes; Tom, a stretcher bearer, hardened by his years in the trenches; and Frank, a mischievous prankster. Then there is Claire. The girl he left had eyes like pies and a face like an egg. But the young woman before him is a beauty—and she is angry. Why? She asks. Why did Charlie stay away so long? And why did so many have to die? Claire, like the rest of Brigus, wants answers. Charlie Wilcox's Great War is the unforgettable story of a boy's quest to find his courage and fulfil his destiny—a destiny hard-won on the great battlefields of Europe. But was the cost too high?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, World War I, Canada, Fiction, Canadian Literature

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published February 11, 2003

About the author

Sharon E. McKay was born in 1954 in Montreal, Quebec, and earned a B.A. from York University in 1978. She lives in Prince Edward Island.


Series:
* Our Canadian Girl: Penelope
* Charlie Wilcox

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Juvenile (2009): War Brothers - Winner

Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award: Fiction
◊ 2002 – Charlie Wilcox – Winner

Reviews

[Secretmonkey27]

Classic sequel , was interesting to see how it unfolded!

[Neill Smith]

This is a sequel to a previous book that tells the adventures of an underage boy from Newfoundland who ends up being a volunteer in the Medical Corps during World War I. In this book he has returned to Newfoundland but tells this exploits to his girlfriend. It is very well-researched and well-told with a prologue, a cast of characters, a glossary, and an index of German translations from the text.

[Brooke Cheyenne]

Not as good as the first but still very interesting and entertaining to see the life of Charlie after the war

[Stella]

I read this for school in grade 8. I had no idea what was going on...

[Artemis]

went hard af!!! been literally two years since i read the first one, wish the ending was less stilted and that WE ACTUALLY SAW WHAT HAPPENED INSTEAD OF AN EPILOGUE IN TWO PAGES

[Jim Toner]

A good historical fiction book about a teen in World War I. The book contains much French and German. Charlie is a likable protagonist.