Season of Secrets

Description

Season of Secrets

Sally Nicholls

(Andersen Press)

Molly and Hannah live in their grandparents’ home above the shop. It’s supposed to be until Dad sorts himself out,  for Dad is struggling. However Molly and Hannah are struggling too. After all, they’ve  a new school, new regime, Dad’s absence and the sudden death of their mother. While Hannah behaves aggressively, causing upheaval and uncertainty for all about her, Molly is lost in a land of stories.

It seems Miss Shelley’s stories of the seasons resonate strongly for Molly. What’s more, her experiences of the natural world about her new Northumberland home, strikes a chord with the ancient tales she learns. After all, who is the Green Man whose flight from the Holly King collides with Molly on the night she and Hannah run away? Then again, why can she find him in the garage, when he’s invisible to Hannah? What’s more, how can she stop his ageing and tiring? it seems that the Green Man is magical, real, impossible but then a support and distraction with his sudden flowers, when Molly crumbles.

Sally Nicholls creates an allegorical story of loss, rebirth, grief and hope in a Season of Secrets. Rather as the year turns, Molly reflects, contemplates, watches and grieves. Like the natural world discovered by The Girl Who Talked to Trees, Molly finds solace and meaning. Sally Nicholls offers a mighty, lingering and glorious middle grade novel for emotionally literate readers in Season of Secrets.