Advertisement
Become a member of the Big Issue community
JOIN
Books

Top 5 child characters in books, chosen by award-winning journalist Tom Lamont

Children can form the emotional heart of a novel, here are some of the most memorable

Image: Margaret Weir from Pexels

Ahead of the release of his debut novel Going Home, Tom Lamont picks his favourite child characters in novels.

Tilda in Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald

Six-year-old Tilda lives on a canal boat with her mother Nenna and her sister Martha in 1960s London. Fitzgerald gives the little girl a sailor’s memory for tide times, an antiquer’s eye and an emotional perceptiveness far greater than many of the adults in the story.

James in Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann

Seven-year-old James plays a small supporting role in this novel about the coming-of-age of his older sister, Olivia, in 1920s England. Even so, he steals every scene he’s in. 

Leo in The Go-Between by LP Hartley

Eager and over-credulous Victorian 12-year-old Leo finds himself spending the whole boiling hot summer of 1900 as a messenger between the adults in a sexy, doomed love triangle.

Lila and Elena in My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein

Ferrante portrays an utterly real and full friendship between two six-year-olds. Everything about their shared world rings true, their fears and superstitions, their small pleasures and their big dreams.

Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Six-year-old Scout, the narrator of the story, is Mockingbird’s soul. But her best friend Dill is its heart. You love Dill forever from about page 60, when he starts “hatching one” — that is, another of his famous tall tales. My favourite of Dill’s fibs comes in chapter four, when he tells Scout about his father being “president of the L&N Railroad. ‘I helped the engineer for a while,’ said Dill, yawning.” That yawn!

Advertisement
Advertisement

Tom Lamont’s debut novel Going Home is out on 6 June (Sceptre, £16.99). These titles are available to buy or preorder from The Big Issue shop on Bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.

This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income.

To support our work buy a copy! If you cannot reach your local vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue today or give a gift subscription to a friend or family member.
You can also purchase one-off issues from The Big Issue Shop or The Big Issue app, available now from the App Store or Google Play.

Advertisement

Become a Big Issue member

3.8 million people in the UK live in extreme poverty. Turn your anger into action - become a Big Issue member and give us the power to take poverty to zero.

Recommended for you

View all
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout review – small-town secrets
Books

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout review – small-town secrets

Recognising the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative review – a clear-eyed meditation
Review

Recognising the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative review – a clear-eyed meditation

Author Matt Haig: 'I was a teenage shoplifter. In my foolish brain I was a kind of Robin Hood'
Matt Haig
Letter To My Younger Self

Author Matt Haig: 'I was a teenage shoplifter. In my foolish brain I was a kind of Robin Hood'

Top 5 books about friendship, chosen by author Marianne Cronin
Books

Top 5 books about friendship, chosen by author Marianne Cronin

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know