An Episode of Sparrows

<p><b>By the author of <i>Black Narcissus </i>and <i>The River</i></b><br><br>'A masterpiece of construction and utterly realistically convincing' JACQUELINE WILSON<br>'Godden's rich understanding of human nature, her humor and her beautiful prose inevitably leave one aglow' CHICAGO TRIBUNE <br>'Godden here tries her deft writing hand at landscaping a child's heart' <i>TIME</i><br><br><i>***<br></i><br>Someone has been digging up the private garden in the Square. Miss Angela Chesney of the Garden Committee is sure that a gang of local boys is to blame, but her sister, Olivia, isn't so sure. She wonders why the neighbourhood children - 'sparrows' she calls them - have to be locked out: don't they have a right to enjoy the garden too?<br><br>Nobody has any idea what sends Lovejoy Mason and her few friends in search of 'good garden earth'. Still less do they imagine where their investigation will lead them - to a struggling restaurant, a bombed-out church, and, at the heart of it all, a hidden garden.<br><b><br>'Only Rumer Godden could make a simple tale of a forbidden garden pulse with suspense'<i> NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE BOOK REVIEW</i></b></p>