A Stitch In Time [antikvár]

PUFFIN BOOKS A STITCH IN TIME It was a tidy white house, neat and square, with green-shuttered windows and a huge garden. And inside it was crammed with old furniture, books, pictures, a bath with claw feet - not at all what Maria had expected from a holiday house. There was so much to explore, and so many interesting new things to talk about. But Maria had only the household cat and the great ilex tree in the garden to share her thoughts with - until she met Martin from the private hotel next door. He was quite different from Maria, coming from an enormous happy-go-lucky family and never seeming to have a moment's doubt or worry, but he liked the same things. Together they looked at flowers and birds, and hunted for fossils on the beach near Lyme Regis, and Maria found all her tongue-tied reserve dropping away. She could talk to Martin about anything - except Harriet. Harriet feit like Maria's own private discovery. She'd lived in the house as a little girl more than a hundred years ago. She'd sewn the sampler that pictured the house and the ilex tree - but why had it been left to her sister Susan to finish? Her giggling face looked out of an old photograph album, but why were there no pictures of her grown up? Maria knew she'd have to solve the mystery before the end of the holiday. A Stitch in Time is a delightful book with lots of layers to it. rather like the layers of different-aged rock that fascinate Maria. It's the story of an enchanting holiday, it's about starting to grow up, there's the hint of a ghost, and it's full of Penelope Lively's deep interest in the way the past affects the present. Illustrated by Anthony Kerins.