Westall's interest in art leads to startling word pictures in his prose. The crisp, clear imagery in The Machine Gunners draws on the author's firsthand knowledge of wartime England: Nicky's house rises above a "necklace of winter trees"; slum children with stiff, coarse hair are referred to as "lavatory brushes"; and Chas and Cem, after diving for cover during an air raid, are described as "two small flies crawling across a white tablecloth." Westall compares the safety of being inside a shelter with the pleasure of being indoors on a rainy day. He reveals the panic-stricken state of Garmouth's citizens when he has Chas, who is running for cover, notice that the shelter door appears to get farther away the harder he runs. The Fry's Chocolate sign, hung upside down on a fence, reflects the feelings of disarray that war brings. The school cafeteria's atmosphere resembles...