When writing for children, for whom this may be their first insight into an historical event, the point of view chosen by the author is more important still. As many teachers will attest, not every child will engage with facts presented in school history lessons, but build characters with whom they can identify, and complex situations and political events start to make sense as fact is absorbed through fiction. Balancing multiple viewpoints on moments in Irish history is something of a speciality for Dublin author Brian Gallagher, who has previously set his young fictional characters on different sides during the Easter Rising, Dublin Lockout, Civil War, and War of Independence. His latest challenge has been to take an even-handed approach to the subject of the Land War in rural Ireland in the late 1800s . three children, bound together by friendship and a shared love of music, each have divided loyalties defined by their different backgrounds, each more able than their adult relations to see events from other perspectives. Combined, their situations build for young readers a rounded picture . plentiful dramatic action . commands full attention throughout, educating and entertaining in equal measure.