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INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Chewins, Hayley

The Sisters of Straygarden Place

208 pp. | Candlewick | October, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-5362-1227-3 $16.99
(2) 4-6 Mayhap Ballastian and her sisters have lived locked inside Straygarden Place for years, ever since their parents left them. Staying inside keeps them safe from the rapacious silver grass that surrounds the house, and in any case, the house itself looks after them--feeds and clothes them, supplies them with books and information. But when eldest sister Winnow ventures out and returns wounded by the grass, Mayhap sets out to find how to cure her. Instead, she finds the house's secret inhabitant, the Mysteriessa, whose identity and purpose threaten Mayhap's very being. Chewins's story revolves around guilt and belonging, with a rather cumbersome plot maneuvering readers toward a scene of restoration and acceptance--and a surprising twist ending. But Straygarden Place is pure confection and provides the sparkle to the imagining, with its fancy furniture, food, and clothing; transporting carpets; and self-tucking coverlets. There's confection, too, in Chewins's abundant similes: a door as "black and shiny as Italian vinegar"; roots "as white as marzipan"; bones that felt "as brittle as burned sugar."
Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

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