The Nest by Kenneth Oppel review – tenderly realistic, but very odd indeed

The story of a new baby and a nest of wasps exists in that strange, nostalgic realm between realism and fantasy

The best children’s books can be the strangest. One only has to think of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Phantom Tollbooth or Where the Wild Things Are to appreciate that some of our most enduring classics are very odd indeed, and perhaps it’s their very oddness that makes them so memorable.

Enter The Nest. From the opening line – “The first time I saw them, I thought they were angels” – we get the sense that this book is going to be unusual. It tells the story of Steve, and what happens to him and his family one intense summer. There’s a new baby in the house, but far from being the delightful time this should be, the family is coping with the fact that the baby has been born with problems. A congenital condition, unspecified, has left him needing an operation. Even if the baby survives the procedure, Steve has overheard hushed conversations about whether his brother will ever be “normal”.

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