Bandy

 

Bandy is a poignant middle grade+ historical novel by Craig R. Hipkins. Released 15th Feb 2024, it's 337 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is a well written but quite sad historical novel with some uncomfortable and unflinching representations of the racism and casual cruelty of the time period (late 19th century USA). The pacing is somewhat uneven, but the characterizations and deeply detailed scenery compensate to a large degree. It's quite a long book for the recommended age group. 

Three and a half stars. Often -very- sad and overall impressions are quite melancholy. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.