“‘I’m not so sure it’s about getting anything back.” He looked to the sky and then back at Hazel. ‘It’s about having what is right here, right now, and not squandering what remains.’ …. And that was my nightly read for a week that I can’t get back! It’s not that the book itself was terrible or anything. In fact, I loved the references to other famous children authors and just authors in general. It was a nod to the dreamers and those with imagination. I felt it even gave a nod to the book behind “Big Magic,” which had helped me during a creative block I had myself a few years ago. My issue comes forth because it seemed as if the author had painted a beautiful picture in the first half, but then had to quickly finish the story to meet a dead line. The ending felt extremely rushed. I had some huge, glaring issues in the plot line. Usually, I can look past one plot goof, but the were quite a few things that felt rushed and incomplete here. I’m going to list a few of the things I took issue with, so don’t read any further if you don’t want any potential spoilers!! 1.) The long lost sister was THERE/THAT person?!? what?! And she is just going around and searching for the pied piper missing children without putting together that she, herself, was one? And it just so happens that Hazel is dead set on meeting her? I think that this book could have had great potential. Shoot, the author could have even made it known on the journalist end that she thought she MIGHT have been Flora but wasn’t so sure so she sought the family out that way. With meanwhile having the story unfolding as it did. 2.) Peggy, who obeyed her mother to the point of people pleasing that I cringe and grind my teeth (perhaps a trigger for me, not quite sure) was going to jump on a plane to find out the truth behind her story that she & her mother “created”? Doubtful. Her mom just came and found her in London without smart phone GPS technology? And then after abandoning her mother at the hotel to go on a day adventure with Wren, her mother is suddenly full of apologies and is accepting of Wren and allows Peggy to share a hotel room with him? No. You don’t go from being that much of a stick in the mud to suddenly being welcoming to Wren and cool with premarital sex and whatnot. There’s no way the mom would have just sat in the hotel in a daze for 12 hours and then gone off on her way. No, they would have gone back home immediately, I’m sure. All girls of strict parents were grinding their teeth with character arc because we know strict parents don’t just chill out & start apologizing. 3.) Edwin would have really taken a Hazel back, after she stole such grand and rare items? I highly doubt it, even if they were like family. Though, I forget often; that this is the 1960’s and so times were slightly different 4.) Of course Hazel & the childhood crush end up together. We all saw that coming. (Though, I was thrilled by it.) after the big reveal, and all the smaller ones after that, it was just steadily declining at a rapid pace. And for that, I’m giving it 2.5 stars. I think this book would be great if you have a short flight and need a quick read, or something to take along on the beach.

The hype soon wore off when the bomb dropped. Guessed whose daughter it really was. The 2nd half of book was drawn out knowing the ending. The heart aches of losing our children in war is real and each woman dealt with it by being obsessed in her art or living in the past talking to ghosts. The airplane crash was confusing at best glad the book ended because so much seemed cut and pasted or repetitive.

Fantastic story

Well written, beautiful descriptions,sweet book. Very interesting time frame during WW11 and the removal of all children from London to safer places . Good read.

Hazel Linden had immeasurable loss when her sister, Flora, was believed to have drowned when they were living in the English countryside due to being evacuated along with other children during WWII’s Operation Pied Piper. Fast forward to March 1960 when it’s Hazel’s last day working at Hogan’s Rare Book Shoppe , a book from the United States is delivered called Whisperwood and the River of Stars by Peggy Andrews. It’s a story that Hazel and Flora made up! This sends Hazel searching for answers. Is this a sign Flora is still alive? This book alternates between WWII with the story of Hazel and Flora’s life before in Bloomsbury and during Operation Pied Piper in the English countryside and how they used storytelling to escape their harsh realities and 1960 with Hazel on a journey searching for answers to find out how this book came to be? Will she find the answers she is looking for? A wonderfully written book that will transport you to England! Patti Callahan Henry’s writing just draws you in from the start and makes you feel apart of the story! She takes what she meticulously researches and turns it into a book that perfectly captures the emotions and hardships of the time period. If you love historical fiction, then this one to put on your TBR list!