A String in the Harp

A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond is one of those novels I love so much it almost hurts. It concerns the Morgan family – Jen, Peter and Becky - who, after their mother is killed in car crash, move from Massachusetts to Wales. Still reeling from the blow, the family is falling apart. Peter, in parti......more

I picked this one up in my meanderings through past Newbery Award and Newbery Honor winners. I'm beginning to think that the main criteria for Newbery's is that they include children dealing with some difficult emotional trauma. This one has three children who have recently lost their mother in a ca......more

Is A String in the Harp... historical fiction? fantasy? family drama? I suppose that it could be labeled a work of all three of those genres, plus multicultural lit, mystery and possibly even suspense. For a debut author, Nancy Bond does well in morphing the varied story elements into a cohesive nar......more

Ahh, I had SO much fun reading this book! It was like a long vacation in Susan Cooper's Wales. So, I got this one at a garage sale because it was a Newberry Honor book. It's high Welsh fantasy in the vein of Susan Cooper's The Grey King and Silver on the Tree (two of my favorite favorites) and deals......more

This book is about the aftermath of 3 siblings when their mom dies, and 2 of them has to stay with their dad in Ireland, while the oldest stays back to live with their aunt and uncle in New England, but then reunite for the holidays at their dad's house. During the holidays, one of the siblings find......more