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Hiding Out
Peter was having so much fun exploring the cave that he didn't notice what his family were doing, so when the car starts up he had a terrible shock. Had his parents really driven off and left him alone in the French countryside? Not sure what to do, Peter decides to hide out and wait for them to come back.
- GenresFictionMiddle Grade
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
1 person is currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Laird
214 books197 followersLaird was born in New Zealand in 1943, the fourth of five children. Her father was a ship's surgeon; both he and Laird's mother were Scottish. In 1945, Laird and her family returned to Britain and she grew up in South London, where she was educated at Croydon High School.
When she was eighteen, Laird started teaching at a school in Malaysia. She decided to continue her adventurous life, even though she was bitten by a poisonous snake and went down with typhoid.
After attending the university in Bristol, Laird began teaching English in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She and a friend would hire mules and go into remote areas in the holidays.
After a while at Edinburgh University, Laird worked in India for a summer. During travel, she met her future husband, David McDowall, who she said was very kind to her when she was airsick on a plane. The couple were married in 1975 and have two sons, Angus and William.
Laird has also visited Iraq and Lebanon. She claims to dislike snakes, porridge and being cold but enjoys very dark chocolate, Mozart, reading and playing the violin in the Iraq Symphony Orchestra.
She currently lives in Richmond, London with her husband.
When she was eighteen, Laird started teaching at a school in Malaysia. She decided to continue her adventurous life, even though she was bitten by a poisonous snake and went down with typhoid.
After attending the university in Bristol, Laird began teaching English in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She and a friend would hire mules and go into remote areas in the holidays.
After a while at Edinburgh University, Laird worked in India for a summer. During travel, she met her future husband, David McDowall, who she said was very kind to her when she was airsick on a plane. The couple were married in 1975 and have two sons, Angus and William.
Laird has also visited Iraq and Lebanon. She claims to dislike snakes, porridge and being cold but enjoys very dark chocolate, Mozart, reading and playing the violin in the Iraq Symphony Orchestra.
She currently lives in Richmond, London with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 13, 2020
Everyone has a book that has impacted them in some way in their life. Oddly, this is one of mine.
I read this book back in the late 90s or early 2000s when I was demolishing the children's section of my local library. I was a prolific reader back then and would easily read 4-6 books a day during the summer holidays. Oh, to have no responsibilities! This book gave me such a taste of adventure and it started a thirst for reading more survival stories. I remember reading books about what to do in an avalanche, an earthquake etc after reading this one.
Then, I grew older and my reading habits changed. I read more horror and thriller books, but this book was always in the back of my mind. Not that I could remember what it was called or who it was by, so the past couple of years I tried to figure out what this book was called. I had no luck until the wonderful What's the Name of That Book??? named it for me. I'm so thankful.
Peter is on holiday with his family and a family that is friends with his own. On the last day of the holiday, the families stop off in a field with a lovely stream and a cave for a picnic and an explore. Keen to avoid the annoying Julian, Peter hides in a cave and, due to inadequate head counting, manages to be left behind whilst everyone goes back to England without noticing that he's missing! Peter has to learn to survive in the wild whilst his parents try and find him.
Let's be honest, this would not happen at all nowadays. For one, Peter would have a mobile phone and would be straight on the blower to his parents begging for them to come back. Children now also need a passport to travel and couldn't simply be registered on an adult's passport (remember that? I remember going to France on a teacher's passport when I was 11!). So whilst this book was incredible and exciting in the 1990s, when this was written, it simply wouldn't hold true now.
That being said, it was so wonderful to travel back and reread a book that gave me such a taste for adventure.
I read this book back in the late 90s or early 2000s when I was demolishing the children's section of my local library. I was a prolific reader back then and would easily read 4-6 books a day during the summer holidays. Oh, to have no responsibilities! This book gave me such a taste of adventure and it started a thirst for reading more survival stories. I remember reading books about what to do in an avalanche, an earthquake etc after reading this one.
Then, I grew older and my reading habits changed. I read more horror and thriller books, but this book was always in the back of my mind. Not that I could remember what it was called or who it was by, so the past couple of years I tried to figure out what this book was called. I had no luck until the wonderful What's the Name of That Book??? named it for me. I'm so thankful.
Peter is on holiday with his family and a family that is friends with his own. On the last day of the holiday, the families stop off in a field with a lovely stream and a cave for a picnic and an explore. Keen to avoid the annoying Julian, Peter hides in a cave and, due to inadequate head counting, manages to be left behind whilst everyone goes back to England without noticing that he's missing! Peter has to learn to survive in the wild whilst his parents try and find him.
Let's be honest, this would not happen at all nowadays. For one, Peter would have a mobile phone and would be straight on the blower to his parents begging for them to come back. Children now also need a passport to travel and couldn't simply be registered on an adult's passport (remember that? I remember going to France on a teacher's passport when I was 11!). So whilst this book was incredible and exciting in the 1990s, when this was written, it simply wouldn't hold true now.
That being said, it was so wonderful to travel back and reread a book that gave me such a taste for adventure.
August 11, 2016
As I've felt a bit toward exploring since I was around the same age of Peter, I really liked this book. Talks about all the fears and joys of being alone and finding friends and escaping from enemies from a child's point of view.
Would definitely recommend it.
Would definitely recommend it.
Read
November 16, 2019In this book this boy is left behind by his family in France when they go on holiday. He manages to survive by stealing and cathing fish. At the end he doesn't even recognise his own dear parents.
July 23, 2025
Je lisais plein de livres comme ça quand j’étais petite, une lecture super nostalgique.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews