Flower

Irene N.Watts

Mey 2009 · Kuthengiswe ngu-Tundra Books

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Thirteen-year-old Katie is an unwilling summer guest in the Victorian home of her Halifax grandparents. All she wants to do is stay in her attic bedroom and brood. Disgruntled over her new stepmother’s pregnancy and how a baby might affect her life, Katie takes refuge in her dreams of playing the part of the disagreeable orphan Mary Lennox in the upcoming school production of The Secret Garden.

When Katie sees a shadow on her bedroom wall of an old-fashioned girl holding a flower, she tries to convince herself it is caused by moonlight. But the girl reappears and shares her life with Katie, reaching across the years to her. Is she a ghost? As Katie searches for some tangible evidence of the girl’s presence, she discovers a package of letters from World War I containing clues to a bygone time when British orphans were sent to Canada as Home Children.

In this haunting journey of a young girl looking for answers and an orphan girl from the past who tries to provide them, award-winning novelist Irene N. Watts uncovers a tale about the real meaning of family.

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Irene N. Watts is a writer, playwright, and drama consultant who has worked throughout Canada and Europe. She is the author of three award-winning novels about the Kindertransport, including Good-bye Marianne, Remember Me, and Finding Sophie, which have been published in the United Kingdom and translated into Italian. She also co-edited Tapestry of Hope: Holocaust Writing for Young People with Lillian Boraks-Nemetz. Irene N. Watts lives in Vancouver.