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It's the second World War and Billy's life will never be the same again. As he lies in his hospital bed, horribly burned, he longs for death. But when a soldier comes to see him and gives him a clarinet, Billy realizes that there might just be something worth living for - some hope for the future...James Riordan has now earned himself a reputation for writing about war in a powerful and uncompromising way. His background in retelling traditional stories shows in his excellent storytelling abilities. James Riordan lives in Portsmouth.

When Billy is hideously scarred by the bomb that leaves him both homeless and orphaned, his only dream is of dying so that he can be rid of the tremendous pain that the physical and mental scars of the Blitz inflicted. But when a wounded soldier makes him the gift of a clarinet, Billy begins to once more face up to life and a future he once believed held nothing for him. Sweet Clarinet is an affecting and moving story of darkness and light for young, adult readers. Simple and to the point, yet somehow deeply poetic, James Riordan¹s matter-of-fact approach touches the heart as he tells of Billy's lonely journey to the very pit of despair, bringing him slowly back into a world where music and friendship offer him the sense of hope he thought he had lost as a child in war-torn London. --Susan Harrison