About this story
Aunt Fortune's farmhouse keeps its hours by clock and dairy, and letters cross the ocean until a black seal ends them. Then come the Humphreys' house below the mountain, Alice in her shawls, John's Latin drills, and at the landing his pocket Bible. Forty chapters carry a girl from a blessing before daylight to a window over the sea, unafraid.
How it opens
Rain darkened the hotel parlor while your mother rested beneath an added shawl.
Your father's lost lawsuit has changed more than our accounts, Ellen.
Captain Montgomery had accepted government business in Europe and intended to leave soon.
The doctor says the voyage may preserve my health, so I must go too.
Your father's half-sister Fortune will receive you near Thirlwall.
Choose
Why can I not cross the ocean and help you there?
I have never met Aunt Fortune; how can her house be home?