A Stitch in Time by Daphne Kalmar (review)

Eleven-year-old taxidermy apprentice and geography enthusiast Dorothy “Donut” Sedgewick loves to spend time with friend Tiny in their small village of Cobden, Vermont. Now, however, Donut’s father, her only remaining parent, has died, and Aunt Agnes wants to bring Donut to Agnes’ Boston home. Refusing to move to the big city with her aunt, Donut runs away, inspired by her father’s love of exploration, to live in a nearby abandoned house. This is a charming period piece, set in 1927 when Prohibition is in full swing and women’s suffrage is considered progressive. The main character’s naïveté and outsized imagination contribute to her likability (her fanciful solutions to the problem with Aunt Agnes include marrying her off, drugging her with chloroform and shipping her to South America, and binding her up and stuffing her into a nicer aunt’s body), and her gradual realization that she needs to open up about her father’s death to move forward is plausible and authentic. Readers with an interest in historical fiction will appreciate this energetic and lively heroine dealing with loss as best as she can.