Set in mostly 1940s Britain, the story follows Hazel, a teenager at the time of the Blitz, when British children were sent to the countryside to board with strangers in order to keep them safe from the bombs. Hazel’s younger sister Flora is six. To soothe and distract Flora from the devastation of war, Hazel tells the little girl stories of their made-up world called Whisperwood. They board with Bridie and her son Harry, who is Hazel’s age. Hazel’s burgeoning romance with Harry causes her to take her eyes off of Flora for just a few moments, and in that split second, Flora vanishes.
The story also bounces to the 1960s, when an adult Hazel, who never found her little sister, attempts to get on with her life. She works at a rare bookshop, where they get a manuscript of original illustrations from a publication by a woman in America, called Whisperwood. Hazel has never told anyone about their fictional world before, but the author describes it exactly as she told it to Flora. Hazel hopes that the author might somehow be Flora, that maybe she was abducted, rather than that she drowned in the river all those years ago.
The discovery of the book sets Hazel on another mission, with the first clue she’s had in decades. It forces her to revisit her past to unravel the mystery, and reunite her family at last. I was surprised by a number of the twists in the story. Very well-written, and it held my interest throughout!
My rating: *****
Language: none
Violence: none
Sexual content: some, but it’s really just one scene
Political content: none
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