When a woman stumbles across a mysterious children’s book, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed.
1939. Fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora evacuate their London home for a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the Aberdeen family in a charming stone cottage, Hazel distracts her young sister with a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own: Whisperwood.
But the unthinkable happens when Flora suddenly vanishes after playing near the banks of the River Thames. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, carrying the guilt into adulthood.
Twenty years later, Hazel is back in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore for a career at Sotheby’s. With a cherished boyfriend and an upcoming Paris getaway, Hazel’s future seems set. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing a picture book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the storybook world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years? Or is something sinister at play?
For fans of Kate Morton, Janet Skeslien Charles, and Kristin Hannah, this is a celebration of sisterhood and the magic of storytelling.
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“Moving, surprising, and deeply evocative of an England that everyday walked the tightrope between heartbreak and hope.”
— Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author
" Fairy tale, mystery and sisterhood. It was a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. "
— Liz, 11/21/2024Patti Callahan Henry is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including The Bookshop at Water’s End and The Favorite Daughter. Find out more at PattiCallahanHenry.com.
Cynthia Erivo is an actress, winner of the Grammy, Emmy and Tony awards and is a producer, and singer, as well as a Grammy nominated songwriter, who burst onto West End and Broadway stages in The Color Purple. She starred in National Geographic’s Genius: Aretha and HBO’s The Outsider.