Children's Fiction Girls & Women
The Old House
- Publisher
- Black Opal Books
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2012
- Category
- Girls & Women
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781937329747
- Publish Date
- Oct 2012
- List Price
- $3.10
Add it to your shelf
Where to buy it
Description
The year is 1958 in Peachland, Okanagan BC. Twelve-year-old Christine meets a man renovating an old house in her neighborhood and immediately feels a bond between them. Even though her mother reacts strangely after hearing the man's name, Christine visits Jim often after school and learns a lot about flowers and gardening. She is heartbroken when he suddenly leaves without a good bye and is determined to find out where he is and why he left. As she unravels the mystery, dark secrets are revealed that make her uncertain if Jim will even want to come back.
About the author
Contributor Notes
Gisela Woldenga was born in Oldenburg, Germany, on July 21, 1934. As soon as she could read she started to write: little poems and fairytales. She still has some of them. When she finished high school, she started working in a lawyer's office, mostly disputes over last wills and testaments and property. Then she moved on to the main taxation office. She met her husband through penpaling—he was already in Canada—and she joined him in 1954 in Ontario. She had her first baby in 1956, her second one in 1957, then moved to Vancouver BC and added another baby in 1961.
Woldenga Picked up music (piano) again in 1964, started teaching shortly after, and taught until about 6 years ago. In the meantime she wrote articles, poems, children's stories. She also took up acting after her kids were safely gone, in 1998. Lots of fun! She’s still doing it whenever possible. After some courses in writing for children, she started publishing. From there on into short stories for adults and finally 3 books. Her book Old House will be released by Black Opal Books in late 2012.
website: www.giselaauthoractress.com.
Excerpt: The Old House (by (author) Gisela Woldenga)
She had to find him, even if she had to do something drastic…
A few days before Christmas Christine plucked up her courage and walked into the garden. The path to the front door was shoveled clean. At least she wouldn’t leave any footprints. She tried the door handle. Locked, of course. She lifted the doormat. No key. At home a spare key was hidden in the garage. Here Jim only had a small shed for his tools. She walked over to it only to find a padlock on its door.
She let out a big sigh. Was there a back door? She had never looked before. She crept around the side of the house. Yes, there was a door but would also be locked. Windows? All closed.
Back at the side of the house a drop of water trickled down her face. She looked up. An icicle was melting and dripping. Another thing caught her attention. A small loose board hung at an angle and under it—something metallic. Christine stretched up and lifted the board. A key! She had found the key. The house key or the one to the shed?
Quickly she took it off the hook and crept back to the front door. She looked around. It had gotten dark in the meantime. She didn’t see anybody on the street. The key fit and turned with a crunching sound. As much as she wanted to go inside, Christine knew she had to get home. Maybe tomorrow. She locked the door again and hung the key back up under the loose board. She couldn’t help but smile, one step closer. She felt like skipping all the way home. Now the search could begin. She couldn’t talk to anyone about it, of course, not even Ellie. She had gone to her grandmother’s for Christmas. Christine wasn’t sure whether she would be able to wait until after the holidays. As things turned out, she had to.
