06 November 2006 FORGED IN THE FIRE by Ann Turnbull, Candlewick Press, April 2007, ISBN: 0-7636-3144-3

"Love, don't fear if thou hear nothing from me for a while. The authorities may restrict the post -- and even if they do not, I may hesitate to write to thee for fear the carrier should be infected. Take care to steam any letters from London over boiling vinegar; we are assured it is a preventative..."

"Close your eyes and I'll kiss you

Tomorrow I'll miss you

Remember I'll always be true

And then while I'm away

I'll write home every day

And I'll send all my loving to you."

-- The Beatles, "All My Loving"

Though I was but on the cusp of turning nine, and knew nothing of that sort of love when I first watched Paul McCartney sing the song on Ed Sullivan, I nevertheless experienced shivers that Sunday evening.

Forty-plus years later, I'm contemplating how so many love songs might well be categorized as relating to one of four "stages" of a proverbial love story:

1. Boy and Girl meet.

2. Boy and Girl fall for each other.

3. Boy and Girl become separated.

4. Boy and Girl (hopefully) reunite.

I amused myself during a two-hour drive to school by brainstorming old tunes that speak of love and separation. The Beatles' song clearly relates to the third such stage of the formula. Some other examples (for us old timers):

Summer Loving (from Grease)

So Far Away (Carole King)

Have You Seen Her (The Chi-Lites)

Missing You (John Waite)

Leaving on a Jet Plane (written by John Denver)

Darling Be Home Soon (The Lovin' Spoonful)

I'm So Tired (The Beatles)

Come Monday (Jimmy Buffett)

Now, when you have a gifted YA author employing this formula to craft the story of two young separated lovers, a story set in the distant past, in a foreign land, amidst widespread death, horrific destruction, (and beer for breakfast), you have all the makings of a great read that could well elicit the same sort of shivers that I felt that night in 1964:

"Dear heart, I write this in the evening, after work, and try to picture thee also in thy room in London, perhaps with Nat, eating hot pies from Pudding Lane (for I remember what thou told me of thy habits). As long as I hold thy image in my mind, I can believe thee safe and in good health. I know thou dare not write to me. We receive few letters now, and there are fewer travelers on the road to bring us news, but we know the pestilence still rages and has begun to spread into the country..."

And so having gotten to read FORGED IN THE FIRE, the long-awaited sequel to Ann Turnbull's NO SHAME, NO FEAR, I found myself recalling sentimental songs of love and separation as I traversed bridges and cruised down highways.

In NO SHAME, NO FEAR we encounter the first two stages of the love story: In 1662, at a time when there is widespread and vicious persecution of Quakers in Britain, Will Heywood, the son of a prosperous Anglican, and Susanna Thorn, a young Quaker girl, meet and fall in love. At the conclusion of the NO SHAME, NO FEAR, Will -- who is disowned by his father -- is heading off to London to serve an apprenticeship that will hopefully lead to his having the means to marry Susanna.

In FORGED IN THE FIRE which begins in 1665, Will is in London and missing Susanna while facing the dangers resulting from his adoption of the Quaker religion, AND the deadly grasp of the Plague. And, then, anyone with a knowledge of British history will already know that as the calendar turns to 1666 Will will be on course for coming face to face with The Great Fire of London.

While today's adolescent readers will most likely not be facing such catastrophies as Plague and City-turned-Inferno, they may well find themselves contemplating what it might be like to maintain loyalty to a sweetheart who is geographically distant -- such as going to college in different parts of the country -- while all sorts of life-altering events are taking place.

"His wife shrieked as they took his body away, and I curled myself into a ball, with my hands over my ears, unable to bear it. I was alone, without friends in this place, overcome with grief and guilt. I blamed myself for the deaths of my two friends, believing they might never have been in Newgate if I had not spoken out that day at Blackfriars. I waited now for the sickness to claim me, too, and felt sure it must."

While FORGED IN THE FIRE won't be available until April 2007, NO SHAME NO FEAR has just been released in paperback. Don't miss them.

Richie Partington

http://richiespicks.com

http://www.myspace.com/richiespicks BudNotBuddy@aol.com