"An Episode of Sparrows" by Rumer Godden, published by Viking Press, New York. First Printing of the BOMSC edition with "First Published by the Viking Press November 1955" without any other printings listed on the copyright page. Printed by Wolff. Identical to the first printing of the Trade edition. The only mark of the BOMS is a small dot on the back board.

Hard boards, original beige cloth spine and green cloth boards, with black lettering on front on spine, black decoration on front board [a little soiling and wear], 5.1/2" x 8.1/4"; 247 pages, very good condition.

The novel focuses on children in Catford Street, a working-class London street of much stone and asphalt but only few green spots. A difficult young girl named Lovejoy Mason, living with the aspiring restaurateur and his wife with whom her irresponsible mother has left her, finds a packet of cornflower seeds and plants a small garden in a wrecked churchyard, filled with rubble from the Blitz.

"The short-and-sweet summary: in post WWII London, 11-year-old Lovejoy finds a packet of seeds, which gets her interested in gardening; she builds a secret garden in a bombed-out church and ends up transforming the lives of the people around her.

The success of "An Episode of Sparrows" depends largely on your expectations. Between the book's cover and the notion of a secret garden, you'll likely think this is a kid's book, an urban version of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. (Which is an awesome novel, and one of my own childhood favorites.) But An Episode of Sparrows is much more like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith; it's not really a kid's book, or at least it is far more "gritty" than most parents might look for.

So if you come to it from that point of view, this is a 4- or 5-star novel. It's told in an old-fashioned way (rather like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in that respect, too), with the viewpoint characters hopping from one head to another. But I found the characters poignantly real, and the writing lyrical.

You have to go out of your way to find this novel, but I think it's worth the search." [a private review]

US: Priority (c.2-4 days) ------------ $12.50
Canada: 1st Class (c.2-6 weeks) ----- $27.50
World: 1st Class (c.2-8 weeks) ------ $35.50