• Age: 12 to 15
• Grade: 7 to 10
• Reading age: 12 to 15

In Cook's Cove, a small outport village on the west coast of Newfoundland, summers are short but sweet, and fifteen-year-old Melinda expects this one to be no different. She's looking forward to two idyllic months of garden parties, socials and long talks into the night with her cousins Rebecca and Kate.

The cousins have spent summers together ever since they can remember. Rebecca's the goody-goody homemaker. Studious Kate, who lives in the city, is determined not to let a boyfriend get in the way of her plans for the future. Then there's outspoken Melinda, who loves to scandalize the village biddies. The girls are like sisters; they watch out for each other, and nothing can ever come between them.

But when a stranger comes to the village and invites Rebecca to go to Boston to develop her artistic talent, the cousins are suddenly exposed to the possibilities of the outside world and the chance to fulfil their latent dreams.

Mary C. Sheppard is a journalist and the author of three young adult books that are set in Newfoundland. She was born in Corner Brook, and has seven sisters and one brother. Her first book, Seven for a Secret, won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award and was named a top ten book by the American Library Association. Mary lives in Toronto.

Mary Sheppard's profile page

• Commended, YALSA BBYA
• Winner, Ruth Schwartz Award
• Commended, CLA Young Adult Canadian Book Award (Honor Book)

Sheppard goes from strength to strength here. Her description of a place both comforting and oppressive is written with perfect pitch, and she doesn't compromise with the ending.

Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

Sheppard perfectly captures the dialect, and records, with vivid truth, details that render life in the outposts unique and yet universal.

Quill & Quire, STARRED REVIEW