Chapter 1:
In the first chapter, Tommo Peaceful, an 18-year-old soldier at war, is trying to remember all of his childhood memories in one night. He thinks about his first day of school and how he was scared of Mr. Munnings. He remembers his Dad's funeral, as he believes that if he had run away from a falling tree that almost killed him, his father would never have had to save him and he would still be alive. Charlie Peaceful is also introduced. Charlie is Tommo's big brother, and he is three years older than him. Charlie is tough and honest and stands up for Tommo, getting into fights with anyone that would mess with him. Other characters we meet are: Big Joe, their mother, Mr. Munnings, Miss McAllister, and Molly.
Chapter 2:
In chapter two, Tommo remembers.......... how Charlie and Tommo would give their big brother Joe (but everyone calls him Big Joe), who is disabled, all of their food that they didn't want because he would eat anything and everything they gave him. One day Tommo and Charlie gave Big Joe a bag of rabbit droppings and told him they were sweets. He ate them all up and savored them in his mouth but when their mother found out she made them eat one each as a punishment. After that they didn't find it so funny. A few days later a bully was mean to Tommo about Big Joe, so they got into a fight. But the bully was much bigger that Tommo, so he got beaten up. But then Charlie comes and stands up for his brother and ends up with a punishment from Mr. Munnings - five strokes of the cane on his bare bum. Charlie was very brave and didn't cry out. Molly became their best friend from that moment. Tommo says it was s if she had become their sister, one of them, and their mother treated her like a daughter. One day the Colonel, who is basically like the mayor of the village, comes to their house and tells them that they must move out because no-one in their family was working, unless their mother started working as his wife's maid. She agrees, but that means that their Great-Aunt must look after them - but they all hate her, and call her Grandma Wolf behind her back. He remembers how as soon as she moved in, everything changed. Grandma Wolf told their mother what to do in her own house, and how she had brought them up with no manners. Their mother was too tired to fight back, so she just agreed. In this chapter we meet: the Colonel, Grandma Wolf and we find out more about Molly, Charlie, Tommo and Big Joe.
Chapter 3:
In chapter 3, Tommo remembers how Big Joe loved all animals, he used to feed the mice in the cupboard, but Grandma Wolf got angry at Big Joe for doing it. She tried to kill all the mice in the cupboard, but she only ever managed to kill one. Tommo remembers that the mouse that had been caught by Grandma Wolf had the biggest funeral a mouse had ever had. Then for Big Joe's birthday Molly finds Big Joe a lovely feildmouse. Molly, Charlie and Tommo make him promise not to tell Grandma Wolf. But sadly, somehow Grandma Wolf finds out about his pet mouse, and kills it, along with all of his other beloved animals; his slow worms, his hedgehog and others of his animal collection. Molly, Charlie and Tommo began to illegally poach on the Colonel's land. Molly and Charlie enjoyed skinny dipping in his lake, and Tommo eventually came in on the second or third time because he felt he was missing out. Molly told their future with stones, and the stones said that as long as they were together, they would always have good luck. At the end of the chapter, Charlie and Tommo find out that Molly is sick with scarlet fever, and she is not allowed to see them, and they are not allowed to see her, and are shooed away by her parents.
Chapter 4:
Tommo remembers that Molly's stones had been right - when Charlie and Tommo were with Molly, they had good luck. But when Molly was not with them, they were not so lucky. The first time Charlie and Tommo go poaching without Molly, things went terribly wrong. When Tommo was on lookout duty, he fell asleep, and they got caught by the Colonel's lookout, Lambert, with his two dogs. At the point of a gun, Charlie and Tommo were marched back to the Big House (where the Colonel lives). They get taken home after they are locked in the stables. They are forced to apologize for trespassing and are made to clean the kennels every Saturday until Christmas. Molly happily gets better and starts to come to school again. At Christmas Eve, they finish their work cleaning the kennels, and just after Tommo's 12th Birthday, Charlie and Molly leave school and find work up at the Big House. This means he only gets to see them at night and on the one day they have off each week. He begins to feel left out because his stories about school aren't interesting to them anymore, and he doesn't understand their stories about the Big House. When he sees Molly walking to work with Charlie holding hands, he gets sad and jealous. One day they see an airplane - the first one they had every seen. It landed and the pilot asks them for directions. They tell him where to go and he gave them some humbugs. Tommo's humbugs are confiscated by Mr. Munnings and he gets 6 whacks on his hand with a ruler. Charlie came home and told Tommo he had stolen Bertha because the Colonel was going to shoot her because she was too old - but Charlie didn't want him to.
Chapter 5:
Charlie hides Bertha in a shed in the forest so the Colonel wont be able to find her. When the Colonel comes to the door asking where Bertha is he knows Charlie has her, but Charlie refuses to tell him so their Mother buys Bertha off the Colonel. They run to the forest to hear Bertha howling and they run her back home. From then on Big Joe was always with Bertha, they were inseparable she followed him everywhere she even slept on Big Joe's bed. One day Molly stops visiting Tommo and Charlie the Wolfwoman and Colonel tell Molly's parents that the the peaceful children are thieving rascals and are no longer fit folk for Molly to visit and she is forbidden from seeing Charlie and Tommo. But Charlie wouldn't listen he kept going to Molly but no-one would answer the door, he decided that Tommo might have a better chance so he became Charlie and Molly's messenger. Almost everyday Tommo and Molly would meet in the forest and talk about how they hated the Colonel and the Wolfwoman and exchange letters. But Molly's mother ends up finding their letters and tells everyone that they are love letters and Tommo ends up feeling really betrayed and sad because he finds out that they are meeting behind his back, but he loves Molly too. One day, Charlie and Molly find Bertha shot dead by the Colonel. Why? Said Molly to the Colonel. Why?
Chapter 6:
Tommo remembers when they buried Bertha they did nothing special. They didn't sing, or talk because they were too angry at the Colonel to say anything. Then Big Joe disappears. No-one minds because he usually went out, but when he didn't come back for dinner everyone began to get worried. They knew something was wrong because he was scared of the dark so they went out to find him. They split off in groups, but no-one found him. They had to go up to the Big House to ask for the Colonel's help. They went to the village to raise alarm, and then everyone in the town went looking for him, in their land, their sheds, their barns. They agreed that if anyone found him, they would sound the church bell. Eventually, Molly says that once Big Joe said that Heaven was at the top of the church tower, and that he might want to be with Bertha so he might have gone up there. Charlie and Tommo run up there, and find him sleeping and sucking his thumb in the church tower.
Chapter 7:
After they found Big Joe all of the hurts and grudges between people in the town were forgotten. Then one evening Charlie and Tommo came home late from work and found Molly sobbing on the mothers lap. Mother informs them that Molly has been forbidden from coming because she is pregnant with Charlies baby and she will now be living with Charlie and Tommo. Soon after Charlie and Molly get married. Everyone found out about the baby so the vicar only married them on the terms that there would be no bells to be rung and no hymens to be sung. Tommo then moved into Big Joe's room so Charlie and Molly could sleep together. Then one day when Tommo was doing a job in the market for Farmer Cocks a marching band for the army came through so he and many others followed them until they stopped at the square. The Captain then gave a speech about the army and how they need more men to join. He then asks who will join the army and the first person the step up is Tommo's old bully from school. Soon after many more people stood up and joined. An old lady then pokes him and asks if he will join, and when he doesn't she chases after him, calling him a chicken. One day the Colonel comes and informs them that Charlie must enroll in the army or else they will no longer be able to stay in their home. Tommo decides that he will join in the army too and won't let them talk him out of it so, soon Tommo and Charlie are boarding a train to their new army campus.
Chapter 8:
Charlie and Tommo are at army camp with the Sergeant Horrible Hanley. He talks about how Horrible Hanley picks on Tommo and Charlie the most because Charlie refuses to be scared of Hanley. Tommo then explains how Charlie was the best rifle shooter in the whole camp which Charlie receives a red marksman's badge for this. Then one day while they were doing army exercises, they hear distant gun fires and Tommo notices that fright flashes in every bodies eyes, even Charlie's. Soon, they are all off on a boat and are shipped off to France which was very unpleasant because of a storm which caused Tommo and Charlie to constantly vomit and were forced to go down into the stable where it was much calmer and they soon felt much better. When they reach France they see all the wounded soldiers. Some on stretchers and others just on the side of the road. They cheered them on and told them to "Give 'em all you got!". One day Horrible Hanley tells Charlie that his cap badge is crooked and shouts at him "Your a blot on creation. What are you?" and Charlie would reply "Happy to be here!". This got Charlie a punishment of extra sentry duty which caused Charlie to soon become extremely tired.One morning when they are drilling and they were standing to attention, Horrible Hanley grabs Tommo's rifle and tells him it's dirty. The punishment was that Tommo had to do 5 times doubling around the parade ground holding their rifle above their head. Tommo accidentally dropped his rifle and had to do 5 more! Tommo didn't have the energy to do it any more and passed out. This made Charlie angry so he charged at Hanley telling him exactly what he thought of him. Every one cheered for him but Charlie got marched off to the guard room under arrest. The next day Charlie was lashed to a gun wheel and was lashed all day in the rain.
In the first chapter, Tommo Peaceful, an 18-year-old soldier at war, is trying to remember all of his childhood memories in one night. He thinks about his first day of school and how he was scared of Mr. Munnings. He remembers his Dad's funeral, as he believes that if he had run away from a falling tree that almost killed him, his father would never have had to save him and he would still be alive. Charlie Peaceful is also introduced. Charlie is Tommo's big brother, and he is three years older than him. Charlie is tough and honest and stands up for Tommo, getting into fights with anyone that would mess with him. Other characters we meet are: Big Joe, their mother, Mr. Munnings, Miss McAllister, and Molly.
Chapter 2:
In chapter two, Tommo remembers.......... how Charlie and Tommo would give their big brother Joe (but everyone calls him Big Joe), who is disabled, all of their food that they didn't want because he would eat anything and everything they gave him. One day Tommo and Charlie gave Big Joe a bag of rabbit droppings and told him they were sweets. He ate them all up and savored them in his mouth but when their mother found out she made them eat one each as a punishment. After that they didn't find it so funny. A few days later a bully was mean to Tommo about Big Joe, so they got into a fight. But the bully was much bigger that Tommo, so he got beaten up. But then Charlie comes and stands up for his brother and ends up with a punishment from Mr. Munnings - five strokes of the cane on his bare bum. Charlie was very brave and didn't cry out. Molly became their best friend from that moment. Tommo says it was s if she had become their sister, one of them, and their mother treated her like a daughter. One day the Colonel, who is basically like the mayor of the village, comes to their house and tells them that they must move out because no-one in their family was working, unless their mother started working as his wife's maid. She agrees, but that means that their Great-Aunt must look after them - but they all hate her, and call her Grandma Wolf behind her back. He remembers how as soon as she moved in, everything changed. Grandma Wolf told their mother what to do in her own house, and how she had brought them up with no manners. Their mother was too tired to fight back, so she just agreed. In this chapter we meet: the Colonel, Grandma Wolf and we find out more about Molly, Charlie, Tommo and Big Joe.
Chapter 3:
In chapter 3, Tommo remembers how Big Joe loved all animals, he used to feed the mice in the cupboard, but Grandma Wolf got angry at Big Joe for doing it. She tried to kill all the mice in the cupboard, but she only ever managed to kill one. Tommo remembers that the mouse that had been caught by Grandma Wolf had the biggest funeral a mouse had ever had. Then for Big Joe's birthday Molly finds Big Joe a lovely feildmouse. Molly, Charlie and Tommo make him promise not to tell Grandma Wolf. But sadly, somehow Grandma Wolf finds out about his pet mouse, and kills it, along with all of his other beloved animals; his slow worms, his hedgehog and others of his animal collection. Molly, Charlie and Tommo began to illegally poach on the Colonel's land. Molly and Charlie enjoyed skinny dipping in his lake, and Tommo eventually came in on the second or third time because he felt he was missing out. Molly told their future with stones, and the stones said that as long as they were together, they would always have good luck. At the end of the chapter, Charlie and Tommo find out that Molly is sick with scarlet fever, and she is not allowed to see them, and they are not allowed to see her, and are shooed away by her parents.
Chapter 4:
Tommo remembers that Molly's stones had been right - when Charlie and Tommo were with Molly, they had good luck. But when Molly was not with them, they were not so lucky. The first time Charlie and Tommo go poaching without Molly, things went terribly wrong. When Tommo was on lookout duty, he fell asleep, and they got caught by the Colonel's lookout, Lambert, with his two dogs. At the point of a gun, Charlie and Tommo were marched back to the Big House (where the Colonel lives). They get taken home after they are locked in the stables. They are forced to apologize for trespassing and are made to clean the kennels every Saturday until Christmas. Molly happily gets better and starts to come to school again. At Christmas Eve, they finish their work cleaning the kennels, and just after Tommo's 12th Birthday, Charlie and Molly leave school and find work up at the Big House. This means he only gets to see them at night and on the one day they have off each week. He begins to feel left out because his stories about school aren't interesting to them anymore, and he doesn't understand their stories about the Big House. When he sees Molly walking to work with Charlie holding hands, he gets sad and jealous. One day they see an airplane - the first one they had every seen. It landed and the pilot asks them for directions. They tell him where to go and he gave them some humbugs. Tommo's humbugs are confiscated by Mr. Munnings and he gets 6 whacks on his hand with a ruler. Charlie came home and told Tommo he had stolen Bertha because the Colonel was going to shoot her because she was too old - but Charlie didn't want him to.
Chapter 5:
Charlie hides Bertha in a shed in the forest so the Colonel wont be able to find her. When the Colonel comes to the door asking where Bertha is he knows Charlie has her, but Charlie refuses to tell him so their Mother buys Bertha off the Colonel. They run to the forest to hear Bertha howling and they run her back home. From then on Big Joe was always with Bertha, they were inseparable she followed him everywhere she even slept on Big Joe's bed. One day Molly stops visiting Tommo and Charlie the Wolfwoman and Colonel tell Molly's parents that the the peaceful children are thieving rascals and are no longer fit folk for Molly to visit and she is forbidden from seeing Charlie and Tommo. But Charlie wouldn't listen he kept going to Molly but no-one would answer the door, he decided that Tommo might have a better chance so he became Charlie and Molly's messenger. Almost everyday Tommo and Molly would meet in the forest and talk about how they hated the Colonel and the Wolfwoman and exchange letters. But Molly's mother ends up finding their letters and tells everyone that they are love letters and Tommo ends up feeling really betrayed and sad because he finds out that they are meeting behind his back, but he loves Molly too. One day, Charlie and Molly find Bertha shot dead by the Colonel. Why? Said Molly to the Colonel. Why?
Chapter 6:
Tommo remembers when they buried Bertha they did nothing special. They didn't sing, or talk because they were too angry at the Colonel to say anything. Then Big Joe disappears. No-one minds because he usually went out, but when he didn't come back for dinner everyone began to get worried. They knew something was wrong because he was scared of the dark so they went out to find him. They split off in groups, but no-one found him. They had to go up to the Big House to ask for the Colonel's help. They went to the village to raise alarm, and then everyone in the town went looking for him, in their land, their sheds, their barns. They agreed that if anyone found him, they would sound the church bell. Eventually, Molly says that once Big Joe said that Heaven was at the top of the church tower, and that he might want to be with Bertha so he might have gone up there. Charlie and Tommo run up there, and find him sleeping and sucking his thumb in the church tower.
Chapter 7:
After they found Big Joe all of the hurts and grudges between people in the town were forgotten. Then one evening Charlie and Tommo came home late from work and found Molly sobbing on the mothers lap. Mother informs them that Molly has been forbidden from coming because she is pregnant with Charlies baby and she will now be living with Charlie and Tommo. Soon after Charlie and Molly get married. Everyone found out about the baby so the vicar only married them on the terms that there would be no bells to be rung and no hymens to be sung. Tommo then moved into Big Joe's room so Charlie and Molly could sleep together. Then one day when Tommo was doing a job in the market for Farmer Cocks a marching band for the army came through so he and many others followed them until they stopped at the square. The Captain then gave a speech about the army and how they need more men to join. He then asks who will join the army and the first person the step up is Tommo's old bully from school. Soon after many more people stood up and joined. An old lady then pokes him and asks if he will join, and when he doesn't she chases after him, calling him a chicken. One day the Colonel comes and informs them that Charlie must enroll in the army or else they will no longer be able to stay in their home. Tommo decides that he will join in the army too and won't let them talk him out of it so, soon Tommo and Charlie are boarding a train to their new army campus.
Chapter 8:
Charlie and Tommo are at army camp with the Sergeant Horrible Hanley. He talks about how Horrible Hanley picks on Tommo and Charlie the most because Charlie refuses to be scared of Hanley. Tommo then explains how Charlie was the best rifle shooter in the whole camp which Charlie receives a red marksman's badge for this. Then one day while they were doing army exercises, they hear distant gun fires and Tommo notices that fright flashes in every bodies eyes, even Charlie's. Soon, they are all off on a boat and are shipped off to France which was very unpleasant because of a storm which caused Tommo and Charlie to constantly vomit and were forced to go down into the stable where it was much calmer and they soon felt much better. When they reach France they see all the wounded soldiers. Some on stretchers and others just on the side of the road. They cheered them on and told them to "Give 'em all you got!". One day Horrible Hanley tells Charlie that his cap badge is crooked and shouts at him "Your a blot on creation. What are you?" and Charlie would reply "Happy to be here!". This got Charlie a punishment of extra sentry duty which caused Charlie to soon become extremely tired.One morning when they are drilling and they were standing to attention, Horrible Hanley grabs Tommo's rifle and tells him it's dirty. The punishment was that Tommo had to do 5 times doubling around the parade ground holding their rifle above their head. Tommo accidentally dropped his rifle and had to do 5 more! Tommo didn't have the energy to do it any more and passed out. This made Charlie angry so he charged at Hanley telling him exactly what he thought of him. Every one cheered for him but Charlie got marched off to the guard room under arrest. The next day Charlie was lashed to a gun wheel and was lashed all day in the rain.