The Garden

In this new book by the author and illustrator of the quietly spectacular The Whale's Song, a child finds an old arrow head in a modern American garden, and through it experiences a romantic dream in which she's visited by Indians who tell her of the days when 'the land was large. When there were stories in the stars and songs in the sun.' Sheldon's text is economical to the point of scantness, but Blythe's paintings, resembling old sepia photographs miraculously imbued with the sumptuous flames of a New England autumn, are startlingly beautiful. This is a visually striking and highly atmospheric book, which hints at the presence of many more stories than it attempts to tell.