Two abandoned children discover that the world is wider than their grandmother's cruelty. Janet and little Peter, left to survive near a Scottish mill, find something their hardship has denied them: a listener. The miller sees the hunger in Peter's eyes for something beyond the grim cottage and the mill-pool where the water-nix is said to live. What follows is a gift no orphan expects: stories, offered freely, wrapped in magic and weighted with wisdom. Violet Jacob built this collection like a hand-stitched quilt, each tale a patch of wonder stitched to the last. These are not fairy tales for the faint of heart. They are stories told to children who have already learned that life is hard, and they teach courage not by hiding the dark but by lighting a small flame against it. The miller becomes the father figure the children never had, and his tales become the door to a world where kindness is rewarded and the lonely find family.
