From the back cover:
When Austrailian teenager Sally Matthews is sent off on a visit to the country, she stumbles into an abandoned mine shaft - and onto an irresistible mystery. Her vacation becomes a quest to discover the significance of the gold-and-diamond brooch she discovers down in the mine. Sally has trouble making sense of the mysteries in her own life - why her parents don't get along, why she is so attracted to her "cousin" Cooper - but she's determined to unravel the meaning of the brooch's intriguing inscription: "Ann Bird Jem Ever."
The love story that unfolds, step by spellbinding step, is a tragic one. And it's told in to alternating, compelling voices - that of Sally and that of the Ann Bird of the inscription. High spirited Ann was a Victorian woman who struggled to make peace with her family and build a life for herself on the Austrailian frontier. Speaking accross the distance of a century through the words engraved on the brooch, Ann gives Sally the courage to face the conflicts of her own time. Through Ann, Sally learns what it takes to survive, and thrive, during tough times.
When Austrailian teenager Sally Matthews is sent off on a visit to the country, she stumbles into an abandoned mine shaft - and onto an irresistible mystery. Her vacation becomes a quest to discover the significance of the gold-and-diamond brooch she discovers down in the mine. Sally has trouble making sense of the mysteries in her own life - why her parents don't get along, why she is so attracted to her "cousin" Cooper - but she's determined to unravel the meaning of the brooch's intriguing inscription: "Ann Bird Jem Ever."
The love story that unfolds, step by spellbinding step, is a tragic one. And it's told in to alternating, compelling voices - that of Sally and that of the Ann Bird of the inscription. High spirited Ann was a Victorian woman who struggled to make peace with her family and build a life for herself on the Austrailian frontier. Speaking accross the distance of a century through the words engraved on the brooch, Ann gives Sally the courage to face the conflicts of her own time. Through Ann, Sally learns what it takes to survive, and thrive, during tough times.
