Ellie drops everything & jumps on a plane after receiving the devastating news that her best friend has been murdered. She travels across the Atlantic to London to be with her God daughter Sophie. A little girl who witnessed the ‘accident’ with her mother and has become mute. Ellie can’t turn her back on this little girl and leaves behind her life in America to be there for Sophie. They share the children’s book The Secret Garden to work through Sophie’s trauma. Ellie also has a need to come to terms with her own history to enable her to move on.
I really enjoyed this book, I think the relationship between Ellie & Sophie was portrayed in a very realistic & honest way. The use of The Secret Garden as an additional character, made me want to go and read it with my children. The characters were realistic, they all had their flaws. Even Lucy who was murdered wasn’t put on a pedestal, her misdemeanours came to light after her death too.
A great summer read, and a new author for me. I’ll be looking out for future publications from Julie Buxbaum.
Read as part of the Transworld Summer Reading Challenge
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