Hilary McKay won the Costa Children's Book Award for The Skylarks' War, the Guardian Fiction Prize for The Exiles, and the Smarties and the Whitbread Award for The Exiles in Love and Saffy's Angel respectively. She is also the author of Straw Into Gold, A Time of Green Magic and The Swallows' Flight, a companion novel to The Skylarks' War, among many critically-acclaimed titles. Hilary studied Botany and Zoology at the University of St Andrews, and worked as a biochemist before the draw of the pen became too strong and she decided to become a full-time writer. Hilary lives in Derbyshire with her family
Hilary McKay has the ability to create characters so real that they live with you long after the last page, having made you laugh, cry - and love them. The Swallows' Flight is no exception; it soars like the swallows of the title as it leads its characters through the WW2 years, and ends with a glorious feeling of hope. -- Vivian French This book belongs among the classic of children's literature . . . -- <i>Sunday Times </i>on <i>The Skylarks' War</i> The kind of classic that rings with beauty and conviction and heart-stopping emotion -- Amanda Craig on <i>The Skylarks' War</i> Hilary McKay is one of the great writers of children's fiction and this story of love and loss during the First World War is one of her best, told with unflinching wisdom -- <i>Independent, </i>on <i>The Skylarks' War</i>