Green Willow Author:Eileen Dunlop When they move into Maddimoss, an uncomfortable old house full of Japanese artifacts in rural Scotland, Kit and her adoptive mother are still deeply depressed by the aftershocks of Kit's sister Juliet's accidental death a year ago. Her father, who favored his "real" sickly older daughter, is in Australia, apparently for good; Kit, who concealed ... more »her jealousy of Juliet, feels unloved and estranged from both parents, and guilty because her distress is misread as grief.
When she discovers a Japanese garden on the property?and sees the evanescent image of its gardener in an old photo?her interest is awakened. "Kojima?s" story, it is gradually revealed, was intertwined with that of old Miss Sorley, their upstairs landlady, and that of Daniel, a 16-year-old rebel staying with them while he sorts out his need to be an artist and his father's conflicting demands.
There's a great deal going on here?prejudice between servant and master, the compelling role of art in an artist's life, issues of adoption and belonging, etc.?but Dunlop knits it all cleverly together with nary a loose end, reuniting families, making peace, getting careers on track, settling the ghost. Too neat, perhaps, but it makes an entertaining yarn, with convincing characters and plenty of mystery and suspenseful incidents along the way. ? From Kirkus Reviews; ?1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.« less