This is a short prequel to Billy’s War. It is short because Billy is only nine at the beginning of Billy’s War, and readers begged me to write another book about Billy, but there is already a sequel in print, There’s No Pride in Prejudice; it deals necessarily with Billy’s life between the ages of 5 and 9, and the number of adventures that a boy that age can realistically have is strictly limited, however adventurous he is by nature!

But, despite the fact that it is fairly short, we are able to see more of Billy’s parents in his formative years, and the way they bring him up as a little boy does much to explain his boldness, resilience and courage, which readers of the later books much admire.