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How I Live Now Paperback – April 11, 2006

by Meg Rosoff (Author)

4.2 1,391 ratings

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“Every war has turning points and every person too.”

Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.

As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.

A riveting and astonishing story.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A daring, wise, and sensitive look at the complexities of being young in a world teetering on chaos, Rosoff's poignant exploration of perseverance in the face of the unknown is a timely lesson for us all." - People Magazine

"This riveting first novel paints a frighteningly realistic picture of a world war breaking out in the 21st century . . . Readers will emerge from the rubble much shaken, a little wiser, and with perhaps a greater sense of humanity." - Publishers Weekly, Starred

“That rare, rare thing, a first novel with a sustained, magical and utterly faultless voice. After five pages, I knew she could persuade me to believe anything.” —Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

“Readers will remain absorbed to the very end by this unforgettable and original story.”—The Bulletin, Starred

“A winning combination of acerbic commentary, innocence, and sober vision. . . . Hilarious, lyrical, and compassionate.”—The Horn Book, Starred

“A fantastic treat . . . Daisy is an unforgettable heroine.”—Kliatt, Starred

“Powerful and engaging . . . a likely future classic.”—The Observer (U.K.)

“A crunchily perfect knock-out of a debut novel.”—The Guardian (U.K.)

From the Back Cover

""EVERY WAR HAS turning points and every person too."
Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she's never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.
As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it's a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy's uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.
A riveting and astonishing story.

About the Author

This is Meg Rosoff’s first novel. The author lives in London.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1

My name is Elizabeth but no one’s ever called me that. My father took one look at me when I was born and must have thought I had the face of someone dignified and sad like an old-fashioned queen or a dead person, but what I turned out like is plain, not much there to notice. Even my life so far has been plain. More Daisy than Elizabeth from the word go.

But the summer I went to England to stay with my cousins everything changed. Part of that was because of the war, which supposedly changed lots of things, but I can’t remember much about life before the war anyway so it doesn’t count in my book, which this is.

Mostly everything changed because of Edmond.

And so here’s what happened.

2

I’m coming off this plane, and I’ll tell you why that is later, and landing at London airport and I’m looking around for a middle-aged kind of woman who I’ve seen in pictures who’s my Aunt Penn. The photographs are out of date, but she looked like the type who would wear a big necklace and flat shoes, and maybe some kind of narrow dress in black or gray. But I’m just guessing since the pictures only showed her face.

Anyway, I’m looking and looking and everyone’s leaving and there’s no signal on my phone and I’m thinking Oh great, I’m going to be abandoned at the airport so that’s two countries they don’t want me in, when I notice everyone’s gone except this kid who comes up to me and says You must be Daisy. And when I look relieved he does too and says I’m Edmond.

Hello Edmond, I said, nice to meet you, and I look at him hard to try to get a feel for what my new life with my cousins might be like.

Now let me tell you what he looks like before I forget because it’s not exactly what you’d expect from your average fourteen-year-old what with the CIGARETTE and hair that looked like he cut it himself with a hatchet in the dead of night, but aside from that he’s exactly like some kind of mutt, you know the ones you see at the dog shelter who are kind of hopeful and sweet and put their nose straight into your hand when they meet you with a certain kind of dignity and you know from that second that you’re going to take him home? Well that’s him.

Only he took me home.

I’ll take your bag, he said, and even though he’s about half a mile shorter than me and has arms about as thick as a dog leg, he grabs my bag, and I grab it back and say Where’s your mom, is she in the car?

And he smiles and takes a drag on his cigarette, which even though I know smoking kills and all that, I think is a little bit cool, but maybe all the kids in England smoke cigarettes? I don’t say anything in case it’s a well-known fact that the smoking age in England is something like twelve and by making a big thing about it I’ll end up looking like an idiot when I’ve barely been here five minutes. Anyway, he says Mum couldn’t come to the airport cause she’s working and it’s not worth anyone’s life to interrupt her while she’s working, and everyone else seemed to be somewhere else, so I drove here myself.

I looked at him funny then.

You drove here yourself? You DROVE HERE yourself? Yeah well and I’M the Duchess of Panama’s Private Secretary.

And then he gave a little shrug and a little dog-shelter-dog kind of tilt of his head and he pointed at a falling-apart black jeep and he opened the door by reaching in through the window which was open, and pulling the handle up and yanking. He threw my bag in the back, though more like pushed it in, because it was pretty heavy, and then said Get in Cousin Daisy, and there was nothing else I could think of to do so I got in.

I’m still trying to get my head around all this when instead of following the signs that say Exit he turns the car up onto this grass and then drives across to a sign that says Do Not Enter and of course he Enters and then he jogs left across a ditch and suddenly we’re out on the highway.

Can you believe they charge £13.50 just to park there for an hour? he says to me.

Well to be fair, there is no way I’m believing any of this, being driven along on the wrong side of the road by this skinny kid dragging on a cigarette and let’s face it who wouldn’t be thinking what a weird place England is.

And then he looked at me again in his funny doggy way, and he said You’ll get used to it. Which was strange too, because I hadn’t said anything out loud.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0553376055
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wendy Lamb Books; Reprint edition (April 11, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 194 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780553376050
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553376050
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 - 17 years
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1620L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 - 9
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.49 x 8.06 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #468,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #80 in Teen & Young Adult Literary Fiction
- #229 in Teen & Young Adult European Historical Fiction
- #1,621 in Teen & Young Adult Social Issues

Customer Reviews:
4.2 1,391 ratings

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Meg Rosoff

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Meg Rosoff was born in Boston, educated at Harvard and St Martin’s College of Art, and worked in New York City for ten years before moving to London permanently in 1989. She worked in publishing, politics, PR and advertising until 2004, when she wrote her first novel, How I Live Now, which won the Guardian Children’s fiction prize (UK), Michael L Printz prize (US), the Die Zeit children’s book of the year (Germany) and was shortlisted for the Orange first novel award. Her second novel, Just in Case, won the 2007 Carnegie Medal. Meg’s latest book is The Bride’s Farewell. She lives in London with her husband, daughter and two very hairy dogs.

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brin.t.murray

How I Live Now: movie coming soon

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2013

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This is a great book. The voice is fantastic, the character of Daisy charismatic, complex, humorous and engaging.
Daisy is self- named, rejecting her father's name for her. Opening paragraph, like a prologue but very brief:

My name is Elizabeth but no one's ever called me that. My father took one look at me when I was born and must have thought I had the face of someone dignified and sad like an old-fashioned queen or dead person, not much there to notice. Even my life so far has been plain. More Daisy than Elizabeth from the word go.
But the summer I went to England to stay with my cousins, everything changed. Part of that was because of the war...

War is a strong word, the scene is immediately set: the drama of a new location, new family, and a war thrown into the mix as well.
The cousins are the key to this new stage in Daisy's life; weird, independent, open hearted and minded, empathetic to the point of telepathic, animal whisperers, half magical. Daisy forms an entirely inappropriate, passionate and profound relationship with her younger too closely related cousin Edmond. His twin, Isaac, is mostly silent. Their younger sister Piper is as innocent and thoughtful and loving and guileless as Edmond himself. Osbert, the oldest, goes to regular school and is the most nearly normal.
Then their idyllic summer is interrupted by the advent of war.
Mostly I love Daisy’s dry, penetrating, honest humour, but also the way in which her relationship with nine year old Piper, and being thrust into a position of responsibility, forces her to move out from herself, grow up and beyond her previous egotistical concerns. Plus the end is deeply moving: Edmond’s openness to others, his deep empathy and concern, leave him terribly wounded, emotionally, by the things he has seen. And Daisy’s job, at last, is simply to be there, and heal.

If there has to be a caveat – and there always is – it is very minor. The war, in the care with which no enemy powers are named, and no one ever knows what exactly is going on, is a bit too wooly to be entirely convincing. This is obviously an authorial ruse to create a situation, while not pointing the finger at anyone in particular. It is well managed enough, though, not to alienate the reader too much.

Charming, witty, big hearted, thought provoking: a novel to stay with you, and I predict a classic.
Five stars.

Also award winning - others agree!!!
Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2004
Branford Boase Award 2005
Michael L. Printz Award 2005
Der Luchs des Jahres Book Prize 2005
Julia Ward Howe Prize (Boston Authors Club) 2005

And see there is a movie due out soon too - in post-production according to IMDB. Wonder how will transfer to moviedom? Tricky as major strength of novel is in its distinctive voice.

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lisa ortiz

uniquely written - oddly hypnotic reading

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2010

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i stumbled onto this book on amazon and randomly decided to give it a try. i was a little distracted by the writing style at first, but the middle and ending were fantastic and made it well worth the read. and you'll have to excuse me for including so many quotes on this one, but there were just soo many good ones that really encapsulate the writing and the story.

the narrative reads very quickly with a never-ending run on sentence feel, which gives the impression that you are lis...more i stumbled onto this book on amazon and randomly decided to give it a try. i was a little distracted by the writing style at first, but the middle and ending were fantastic and made it well worth the read. and you'll have to excuse me for including so many quotes on this one, but there were just soo many good ones that really encapsulate the writing and the story.

the narrative reads very quickly with a never-ending run on sentence feel, which gives the impression that you are listening to a story rather than reading one. aside from the grammatical nightmare that Rosoff created, she has the tendency to capitalize random phrases for emphasis, for example, "by the time I finished the letter I'd convinced myself that This Was the Life oh yes and Boy Had I Lucked Out". although the very stylistic writing is a little distracting at first, it becomes pseudo-normal and is at times hilarious in its stumbling randomness. the characteristic rambling is told from the perspective of 15 year-old Daisy and really brings her character to life, making her very tangible to the reader. the story begins when she is sent away by her father and evil step-mother to England for a while to visit her four cousins and Aunt Penn.

"I... thought about my old home which unfortunately led to thinking about Davina the Diabolical, who sucked my father's soul out through his you know what and then got herself knocked up with the devil's spawn which, when it pops out, Leah and I are going to call Damian even if it's a girl."

from the moment that Daisy's airplane lands and she is greeted at the airport, it is obvious that this extended family is unique, with some telepathic tendencies, and gifts for maintaining wildly fertile plants and animals. of the family, 14-year-old Edmond, with "the CIGARETTE and hair that looked like he'd cut it himself with a hatchet in the dead of night" and his younger sister Piper become the centerpieces to the book. the relationship between Edmond and Daisy quickly becomes complicated as she acknowledges that she is having some incestuous feelings towards him, which, despite the subject, somehow manages to read as un-creepy as it possibly could.

when war breaks out and England is occupied, with Aunt Penn away on a business trip, the cousins find themselves alone and secluded in the countryside. at first, things amble along in the relative utopian lifestyle that the family maintain and Edmond and Daisy secure their disconcerting, and yet lovely relationship with each other.

"The war... provided a perfect limbo in which two people who were too young and too related could start kissing without anything or anyone making us stop."

in time, however, the secluded country home is found to be useful to the local military and the family is forced apart. Daisy and Piper are moved away from the boys and we follow them in their journey to be reunited with the rest of the family. through ups and downs and some oddly amusing moments, Rosoff brings us to a magical conclusion that you will just have to read to understand. she writes simply of the poverty and scarcity that only war can bring, and with the fanciful characters, makes even the sad parts enjoyable.

"We got flyers in with our food saying to boil all our water and Be Extra Careful When Handling Knives, Tools or Firearms Because Minor Injuries Could Lead to Infection and Death. Which struck me as extremely amusing given that we're supposedly in the middle of a war, which usually has the same effect."

once i got comfortable in the style, i really did find myself enjoying this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, playful read. the sincerity of the writing, even through the awkward moments of incest, makes you love the characters and really miss them once the reading is through. ultimately, this is a story of love and finding meaning in a life that is full of sad things, and in that, Rosoff delivers and delivers well.

"I just know that he needs peace and he needs to be loved. And both those things I can do."

for more of my reviews, please visit [...]

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Cliente Amazon

A good read

Reviewed in Italy on May 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

This (apocalyptical?) story is told by a teenage girl which makes it easy to read and funny. There’s a beginning of a world conflict and she finds herself stuck with her cousins in the English countryside. After this experience this New York girl will never remain the same.

UNOR1G1NAL

Seems like a winner

Reviewed in Canada on January 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

Was a Christmas present for my 13 year old niece. She specially requested it and was excited to receive it.

Laura B.

Muy buena opinión

Reviewed in Spain on October 15, 2018

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Este era el libro de lectura obligada para el verano en inglés de 2º de ESO. Le gustó mucho!

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Josh

cousins????

Reviewed in Australia on December 8, 2023

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would be a perfect story if not for the familial relations that disturb me but also i guess daisy had some problems

Jesús Cabrera

Exciting and incredible

Reviewed in Mexico on November 29, 2016

Verified Purchase

The book is super interesting at all times, from beginning to end, the author knows how to narrate everything that is happening in each moment. What live the main protagonist is incredible. Truly a Third World War would affect the world. This book has become one of my favorites and I really recommend it a lot. It deserves five stars.

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