Goodnight Mister Tom is a work of historical fiction written by Michelle Magorian and published in 1981. The novel is aimed at an audience of middle grade readers. It tells the story of eight-year-old William Beech, who, at the start of WWII, has to move with his abusive mother from an impoverished suburb of London to the countryside, where they are in the care of an elderly recluse, Thomas Oakley. The novel explores the impact of the World War II on British life, namely in terms of the evacuation of thousands of children to be billeted in the country. It also explores the devastating impact of abuse, as well as the rehabilitative effect of compassion, patience, and love. Magorian’s widely celebrated novel has won many awards, including but not limited to the International Reading Award (1992), the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award (1981), the Best Books for Young Adults Award, the Young Adult’s Reviewer Award, the Favourite Puffin Title of All Time (2012), and the shortlist of the BBC Top 100 Books (2005). It was adapted into a multi-award-winning film in 1998.

This guide is based on the 2011 Puffin Books edition of Goodnight Mister Tom.

Content Warning: This guide and the source text refer to significant physical and emotional child abuse and the resultant trauma of that abuse, as well as mental illness and suicide.

Plot Summary

William—“Willie” and then “Will”—Beech, a young boy who lives in an impoverished suburb of London with his abusive mother, is sent to the countryside as part of a billeting program to safeguard London’s children from German bombing raids. He is placed with Thomas “Tom” Oakley, a curmudgeonly and reclusive widower, in the small village of Little Weirwold. Will has been abused physically and emotionally by his mother, who believes that children, especially Will, are inherently evil and must be punished continually for their sins.

Tom is initially bad-tempered and distant, although there are hints—such as in his loving manner with his dog, Sammy—of his gentle kindness hidden beneath his gruff facade. Tom, who begins to learn about the extent of Will’s abuse, treats him with kindness and understanding. He treats the wounds inflicted by his mother and patiently changes his bedding each morning after he wets his bed. He buys new, warmer clothing for him, helps him to learn how to read and write, and helps him to make friends in the town.

Will takes a turn for the better, making friends and becoming particularly close with Zach, a fellow evacuee who is Jewish. Tom is also transformed by Will being under his care. He lost his wife, Rachel, and infant son, William, to scarlet fever years earlier and became a recluse after this loss. Will helps Tom to confront this grief and to heal from it.

Will is originally ashamed that he cannot read or write, which means that he is put in a class of students younger than his group of friends, which includes Zach, George, and twins Ginny and Carrie. Through nightly rituals of reading and writing together, as well as labeling items around Tom’s house, Will learns to read and write. Tom notices his interest in an art shop, buys him pencils and a pad of paper, and gives him some pots of paint, which belonged to Rachel. Will is a talented artist.

Later, Will’s mother, who claims to be sick, demands that he return to her in the city. Will finds out that his mother has had another baby, a girl, and she is furious about Will’s experiences under Tom’s care. She hits Will on the head and knocks him out. When he comes to, he has been locked under the stairs, tied to a set of pipes with the baby in his arms.

Tom meanwhile has a premonition that something is wrong with Will, whom he hasn’t heard from in weeks. He ventures out of his town and makes his way to London. He manages to find Will’s neighborhood and convinces a warden and a policeman to kick down the door of Will’s seemingly empty flat. When he does, they are greeted with a horrific stench. They discover Will and the baby, who has died.

Will goes to the hospital, but he is under heavy sedation to keep him calm and from screaming and disturbing the other children in the ward. Tom is told that Will likely will end up in a children’s home, but Tom is unable to bear Will’s distress and kidnaps him from the hospital. They return to Tom’s town. Will is emaciated and traumatized but slowly starts to recover through Tom’s patient and loving care.

Will blames himself for the death of his sister and his mother’s treatment of him, but Tom helps him see that it is not his fault. The authorities finally trace Tom, and they tell Will that his mother has died. She died by suicide by drowning. He has no other relatives, and they want to place him in the children’s home; Will is furious at this choice being taken out of his hands. He loves Tom and wants to remain living with him. Tom steps in and offers to adopt Will. Both Tom and Will are overjoyed with this turn of events. Tom privately cries when Will calls him “dad” for the first time.

Tom, Will, and Zach take a brief holiday by the sea. Tom is more youthful and joyous than he was at the beginning of the novel. Will becomes more confident and comfortable with himself and with others.

They return to Little Weirwold. Zach receives the news that his father has been injured in a London air raid, and Zach hurries to London to be with him. Meanwhile, the community at Little Weirwold reads and hears horrifying news reports of the Blitz in London, which killed hundreds in a single night. Will learns that Zach has been killed, and the grief is too much; for a long time, Will cannot confront the fact of his friend’s death and absence.

Will finally decides to learn to ride Zach’s beloved bike, and while Will is riding it, he realizes that Zach will always be with him. Will adopts some of Zach’s more vivacious mannerisms as his own. A romance between Will and Carrie is foreshadowed in the novel’s postscript. Will is extremely happy.

Goodnight Mister Tom is a story of the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of love and kindness that highlights the themes of The Restorative Power of Compassion and Human Connection, The Impact of Trauma and Abuse, and Wartime Britain: Community Involvement and Loss of Life. When Will first arrives, he is broken physically and mentally. He believes that he deserves his mother’s abuse, and his reactions to things that seem normal to everyone else are baffling. When Tom realizes the extent of his condition, he changes his behavior toward him to show Will kindness that he has never experienced.

Will is confused by this behavior but eventually responds and begins to heal from his abuse. In turn, Tom begins to experience the love of someone like a son. Because of Tom’s past, this experience is healing for him, just as it is for Will. Kindness and love can transform the broken parts of their spirits.

Both Tom and Will are examples of the resilience of the human spirit. Both endured grief in their lives and shut themselves off from human interaction as a result. When they find each other, they can experience family in the way both had hoped for.