• Age: 10 to 18
• Grade: 5 to 12

It is the winter of 1856, and Beatrice Alexander has just returned from Upper Canada to her home on the Red River, in what is now Manitoba. Her father's new wife is threatened by Beatrice and is driving a wedge into the family.

Five generations later, in the same house, Christmas promises to be a miserable time. Cass's mother died of cancer and her father has remarried a woman with an attitude that's very hardto take. Miraculously, when Cass discovers the star brooch belonging to Beatrice, her visions lead her to Beatrice's diary. Is she really able to communicate with Beatrice across time, or is it all in her imagination?

Margaret Buffie's great skill as a storyteller creates a splendid, engaging novel that offers readers a rich combination of fine history, suspenseful shifts in time, and unforgettable characters.

Margaret Buffie is an award-winning author of young adult books. Her books include The Watcher and Angels Turn Their Backs. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Margaret Buffie's profile page

"... a breathtaking novel that is part realism, part time-travel fantasy, and part coming of age tale."
—QUILL & QUIRE

"... The alternating narratives are gripping.... Readers will be pulled in by the searing history of bigotry as well as the universals of famiy conflict, love, and friendship."
—BOOKLIST