How I live now by Meg Rosoff
Published by Puffin

Daisy is sent to live with her cousins in England; she has never met anyone like them before, and she is particularly attracted to Edmund.   Soon after her arrival, however, war is declared, her aunt cannot get home from abroad, and before they know it, the teenagers have to fend for themselves.   Their resilience is remarkable; but to them it almost seems like a game – almost a perfect existence, in fact.   That is, until a well-meaning doctor realises that they are on their own.   What happens next is truly awful; an incredibly real account of what might happen when society implodes, and your back yard becomes a war zone.   The only thing that keeps Daisy going is the thought of Edmund, who has become much more than a cousin to her.

This book is written in a very unusual style, but once you get into the way of it, you will not be able to put it down.

Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2004