Clarissa, eleven, has been orphaned by a disease that has kept her far from home for as long as she can remember. Despite the many inmates in Dr. Grenfell's Children's Home on Newfoundland's northern tip, she lives a lonely life. She longs to be able to do something as simple as pushing her feet into boots in a blink and skipping down the road holding hands with Cora, her best friend.?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Will Clarissa get to go home? If so, what will she discover about her past that will help her understand why she spent her childhood at the orphanage? There are times when she is not sure if she wants to go home. What if she doesn't like anyone there? Worse—what if no one likes her?

The story begins in 1924 at St. Anthony, with flashbacks to earlier times. One bright memory is folded in a blue handkerchief, which is given to her by a kind nurse and carried to the end like a security blanket.

Nellie P. Strowbridge is one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most beloved, prolific, and respected authors. She is the winner of provincial and national awards and has been published nationally and internationally. Her work is capsuled in the National Archives as Newfoundland’s winner in Canada’s Stamp of Approval Award for a letter written to Canada 2117.Strowbridge, a former columnist and editorial writer, an essayist and an award-winning poet, is a seventeen-time winner in the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Awards. She has been Writer in the Library, a mentor to young writers, an adjudicator in the Provincial Arts and Letters Awards, an assessor on the Newfoundland and Labrador Grants Committee, and a judge on the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards. She has held school workshops in Canada and Ireland and also hosted a Seminar/Gabfest for International Women’s Day in Cobh, Ireland, where she was writer-in-residence. The Canadian Embassy in Dublin also sponsored a reading and reception. She has also read from her work during a bus tour in Scotland.Nellie is a member of The Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador, The Writers’ Union of Canada, The League of Canadian Poets (Newfoundland and Nova Scotia Representative 2009), and Page One.Previous books: Widdershins: Stories of a Fisherman’s Daughter; Doors Held Ajar (tri-author with Isobel Brown and Peggy Krachun); Shadows of the Heart; Dancing on Ochre Sands (shortlisted for the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards - E. J. Pratt Poetry Award, 2005, and long listed for the ReLit Awards, 2005); Far From Home: Dr. Grenfell’s Little Orphan (a bestseller, shortlisted for the Heritage and History Award, 2006); The Gift of Christmas (reviewed by the Aurora as a Newfoundland and Labrador classic); The Newfoundland Tongue (a bestseller); Catherine Snow (a bestseller); and Maiden from the Sea (a favourite of many readers).

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