 When her father is sent on an extended business assignment to South America, six-year-old Karen Stevens must spend several months with her maternal grandmother in New York. There, she is reunited with her older sister, Wendy, whom she has not seen since their mother left her family to marry another man. After some time in boarding schools, Wendy had gone to live with Gran while Karen had been living with her beloved father in Wisconsin. It is Wendy—the pretty, petite, older girl—on whom Gran has always lavished all of her love and attention. Karen soon finds that time and distance have not changed Gran’s cool and disapproving attitude towards her. Her first weeks in New York are filled with disappointment. Although Wendy had welcomed Karen warmly, Karen finds her older sister shallow and thoughtless—too much wrapped up in her own social life to pay much attention to her lonely, homesick sister. When towards the end of the summer, Wendy’s irresponsible and impetuous actions almost land her in real trouble, it is Karen’s strength that sustains the older sister. How Karen had captured that strength during those months in spite of her own difficult situation is the heart of this realistic, eventful story in which many a young girl will find herself revealed. |
