Fantastic book about, grief, emotional well being and a sprinkling of wonder. Read in two sittings. It's a middle grade book I feel more suited to the upper age range due to its themes but this 48 year old loved it ( )

It's funny, I don't really like adult literary fiction, but the kid version is totally intoxicating.

This story is hard and yet I could not put it down. Deals with themes of loss and mental illness and neglect. There's a lot of fear and sorrow in this book, but there's also a lot of bravery and hope, and unexpected allies, and a magical feel, even though it's an entirely realistic book. Set just after WWI in the British countryside, Henry's family is reeling from the death of her brother a year before, and have just moved to a seaside town. Her mother is lost to grief, her father seems unable to help and absents himself, and Henry and her baby sister Piglet are left with Nanny Jane in a new place with a frightening doctor and some mysterious characters in the woods and the town.

I love that Hen finds reserves of strengths within herself in a terrifying situation. I love that her initial, fearful judgements about strangers are nearly always wrong, and as she learns that lesson, her world starts to brighten up. The imagery is also just astonishingly lovely, from the caravan in the woods to the round window full of stars in a secret room, to the heavy scented roses of the garden. Fierce, loving, ultimately triumphant. Could not put it down. ( )

Een sprookjesachtig verhaal over een meisje van 12 jaar, haar ouders en haar baby-zusje Biggetje. Haar oudere broer is omgekomen bij een brand en dat haalt het gezin uit elkaar. Vader vertrekt naar het buitenland, moeder wordt ziek en dreigt te worden opgenomen in een psychiatrische inrichting. Henry, de hoofdpersoon, staat er alleen voor maar wordt geholpen door Mot, een 'heks'. Uiteindelijk komt het allemaal goed. Doet een beetje denken aan 'Lampje', mooi geschreven. ( )

This is The Yellow Wallpaper: The Middle-Grade Novel. Or, "What if Mrs. Rochester were a real person, not just 'the crazy lady in the attic,' and she had a plucky daughter?" The way the doctor convinces Henry's dad that his wife's depression requires isolation, institutionalization, "experimental treatments," the complete theft of her agency... and the way that post-WWI societal expectations about women are complicit in everyone's treatment of both Henry's mom and Henry herself... it's straight-up horrifying. It is the best book I've ever read for young people about gaslighting. This is 21st century middle grade, so you know it doesn't end like [b:The Yellow Wallpaper|775616|The Yellow Wallpaper|Charlotte Perkins Gilman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1315793049s/775616.jpg|59695206] or [b:Jane Eyre|10210|Jane Eyre|Charlotte Brontë|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327867269s/10210.jpg|2977639], but there's also no pretending that Henry is anything other than unusually audacious and lucky. Her society is obviously deeply broken, in ways that go far beyond the villainous doctor. This book is explicitly feminist in ways that are kind of brilliant, and I look forward to discussing it with kids.

I'd sell it as a mystery, a la [b:The Ruby in the Smoke|114982|The Ruby in the Smoke (Sally Lockhart, #1)|Philip Pullman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424038246s/114982.jpg|1128656], historical spunky heroine tale a la [b:The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate|6202556|The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Calpurnia Tate, #1)|Jacqueline Kelly|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437655533s/6202556.jpg|6383049], or gothic horror a la [b:Wait Till Helen Comes|267972|Wait Till Helen Comes|Mary Downing Hahn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1486692223s/267972.jpg|259783], depending on the kid. ( )

Haunting and beautiful. Henri's fight to save her mother from an asylum kept me on pins and needles as she attempts to navigate the adult world of unethical doctors and adults who think they know best. Her only supporter is a hermit woman living in Nightingale Wood. ( )