Book description
Living in grim Depression-era Toronto with her actress mother, Frannie,
Ivy Chalmers has never met her father. In 1931, Frannie sends
twelve-year-old Ivy to stay with her paternal grandmother in Larkin,
Ontario, while she seeks stardom in New York City. When Ivy's father,
Alva, arrives unexpectedly in Larkin, he turns out not to be the Prince
Charming she imagined, but an illiterate peddler. Rescuing Ivy from her
uncompromising grandmother, Alva takes her with him for the summer,
wandering the countryside by horse-drawn caravan, selling shoes. Back in
Larkin at summer's end, Ivy meets teenager Charlie Bayliss, orphaned as
an infant and raised by his aunt on a farm outside town. Ivy has a flair
for writing and boundless imagination, while Charlie loves baseball and
loathes farming. Unknown to both of them, though, is a secret connection
they share. When the final pieces of the puzzle of their lives fall into
place, nothing will ever be the same. Peggy Dymond Leavey has written
an engaging and moving story of a likable, imaginative girl. I kept
reading late into the night, empathizing with Ivy and wanting to know
what happened next. The realities of the Great Depression are brought to
life with authentic, well-researched details.
Peggy Dymond Leavey's previous books include Sky Lake
Summer, The Deep End Gang, and The Path Through
the Trees, all of which have been nominated for the
Silver Birch Award. She has also been shortlisted for the
Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award, the Arthur Ellis Award,
and the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for
Children Award. Peggy lives in Trenton, Ontario. |
