This beautifully written novel from historical fiction writer Joan Clark will be a real pleaser for the kids who love Jean Little’s works. The Word for Home is a tribute to life in 1926 Newfoundland as lived by reserved 14-year-old Sadie Morin and her exuberant eight-year-old sister Flora.

The girls are semi-orphans left to board with mean old Mrs. Hatch while their father is off prospecting. They attend an oppressive school for girls where Sadie endures social ostracism and bullying. In one memorable scene, the evil Eunice wreaks a truly twisted brand of revenge on poor Sadie. Sadie also contends with the increasingly onerous demands of the landlady, as their father falls behind in his payments. It all culminates in daring action when the girls are threatened with the prospect of an orphanage.

Clark’s skill shines in her bang-on character descriptions. Mrs. Hatch has a “small pointed head” that she swings in front of her as if she were testing the air. Sadie’s weak father is a narrow-chested fellow who never occupies a “space for long, instead searching for openings he could easily duck through.”

The reader is carefully drawn into the minutiae of Sadie’s life, and Clark introduces two instantly embraceable characters as a counterpoint to the greyness of Sadie’s routine. Wanda Hatch, Mrs. Hatch’s riotously ribald daughter, and Millie, Sadie’s outrageous best friend, are brilliantly drawn. Unfortunately, neither is on stage long enough, nor as tightly woven into the fabric as they could be. We travel to the end of the book before we discover what Sadie is hungry for – home – which is anywhere that her father is. For the patient reader the journey will be well worth it.