Paul Milliron is a 13 year old genius in early 20th-Century Montana
where his father is striving to homestead and farm in one of the driest
areas of the country. He attends school in a one-room school house with
his younger brothers Damon and Toby and shares school-day adventures
with the other local students of Marias Coulee from 1st to 8th grade.
Life is pretty constant for the Milliron family: Father can't cook, so
the boys haven't had much of a decent meal since their mother passed
away the previous year; Sunday means one good square meal at the
neighbors' (and mother's cousin's) house -- which the boys relish,
except for Aunt Eunice; Aunt Eunice will always complain that she may
not make it another day; and school will be a dirge with Miss Adelaide
Trent up front as teacher.
But that's before Rose Llewelyn
enters the picture. When Father responds to her house-keeper ad in a
paper from Minneapolis, she arrives with her brother Morrie in tow and
turn the lives of all the Milliron males upside down! As she whistles
while she works their house back into shape, Rose also wiggles her way
into the lives of the boys. With her can-do attitude and never-ending
work ethic, she changes her life -- and the lives of those she touches
-- in one grand whistling season.
***This was a charming
book. It took me a bit to get into, but the characters are so real, you
feel as though you know them. I loved the language of the book -- the
vocabulary and the way Doig writes. I definitely chuckled several times
while reading, particularly with situations involving Aunt Eunice.
Definitely a happy-ending good read!
