Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Sara

"Ellen Carr is raised to be an intellectual - but what she really wants to do is cook beautiful food. So Ellen is thrilled to leaves behind the grey drizzle of London and start her first job - as a housekeeper at the Hallendorf School of Music, Drama, and Dance. Deep in the idyllic Austrian countryside she finds an eccentrically magical world occupied by wild children, experimental dancers, a tortoise on wheels and a mysterious young gardener called Marek. But outside this paradise, Hitler's Reich is casting its menacing shadow over Europe..."

I really enjoyed this book. Ellen was a good heroine and Marek a loveable lead man... despite both of their flaws. The setting was beautiful as were the children who attended Ellen's school.