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Amazon
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: HarperPerennial
ISBN-10: 0060977671
Type: Fiction
Pages: 370
Copyright: Jan 1 1993
Growing up in Iowa before the Great War, Anna Berter learns the long held secrets of her origins. Caught between her mother, whom she calls the Prussian, and the Old One, who teaches her about the magic selkies, Anna finds her own balance.
Growing up in a privileged home, Anna Berter's life is dominated by two women: her stern mother and her adoring Scottish housekeeper, the Old One, who fills Anna's imagination with Celtic legends and songs. But Anna's years of idyllic innocence end with the arrival of Hailus Tucker, a houseguest who charms all the ladies and leaves one -- the Old One's grand-daughter Edwina -- pregnant. When Anna's family adopts the illegitimate child, Anna demands the truth about the child's father. Truth ultimate brings tragedy for Edwina and reveals long-kept secrets about Anna's own origins. The Old One's mythic visions help Anna discover herself and push her into womanhood.
Excerpt
"The Prussian never forgave me for dreaming of seals. Though I knew she thought them dangerous, I once told her about them. It was the year I turned sixteen, the summer Edwina died, one morning when the iceman had delivered the new block and given me a handful of the extra chips. I filled the largest mixing bowl with ice and water and dipped my hands in, at first just to cool myself. But the water brought back the Old One's sea stories, and my hands turned to seals hurtling through infinite ocean, parting and closing continuously around them, the two sliding slick through the cold and keeping in unison through secret cues between them.
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