Lily Norris' Enemy

The opening finds Lily Norris arriving late to her own friends' patience, as Maggie and Bessie air their grievances to Aunt May. The girls adore Lily, but she's "tryinger than any child they know" - never truly naughty, but perpetually tardy, perpetually putting off what must be done. Mrs. Rush listens with knowing amusement to their tales of broken promises and missed engagements, of parties begun without their favorite friend. What follows is a gentle but pointed examination of what it means to let people down, not through malice but through carelessness. Lily must learn that love doesn't excuse absence, that "fondness" and "frustration" can coexist in the same heart, and that her friends deserve better than a charming disappointment who always arrives too late. Mathews writes with period-perfect warmth and wit, capturing the way children actually talk and complain and forgive. This is a story about the small betrayals we commit against the people who love us, and the harder lesson that love must be shown, not just felt.