Overview

'They tell you that most lumps are nothing.' Mum's voice wobbled. 'But mine is cancerous...oh dear. Its a bit of a shock, it really is!' And so Ellen and her family must learn with the reality of her mum's breast cancer. Ellen finds solace in her dancing and coupled with an unexpected discovery in the school grounds, she is able to face the difficult times ahead...

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9780099207924

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Reviews

Ellen's mother has breast cancer, and Ellen (a British teenager), like her father and brother, is trying her very best to be supportive, even though her own worry is often overwhelming. Woven into the account of the mother's lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments is the story of the discovery of an ancient spring beneath a muddy, trash-strewn bank on the grounds of Ellen's school. Ellen and her best friend, Laura, begin helping Miss Corrigan, their history teacher (and, it turns out, a breast-cancer survivor), restore the site. Corrie believes that the site was once a sacred spot where travelers and those in search of healing drank and left offerings for Ellen of the Ways, a pagan goddess later identified with the Christian St. Helen. As her family copes with the ups and downs of the protracted cancer treatment, Ellen finds solace at the well. The book ends with a ceremony marking the restoration of the spring and a family holiday celebrating the end of the treatments - and the hope that Ellen's mother is well. Gracefully avoiding didacticism, Tomlinson (The Forestwife, 1995, etc.) makes regular reference to the many sources of healing, finding it not only in modern medicine, but in ancient wisdom, the mind and imagination, and in the love and support of family and friends. Readers will be borne along by the lively pace and the first-person, dialogue-heavy style. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Theresa Tomlinson was born in Sussex. The daughter of a vicar, she spent her early childhood in various places in the north of England. As a child she had no interest in writing, but she loved reading. Her main interest was drawing and painting. She attended Hull College of Art, and later trained as a teacher at Hull College of Education. She taught as an infant teacher for five years Theresa and her husband live in Whitby, North Yorkshire, where Theresa spent her childhood. Over the years she has acquired an outstanding reputation for her historical novels, particularly those, like Wolf Girl, set on the north-east coast of England. Shortlisted twice for the Carnegie Medal and for the Sheffield Children's Book Award, Theresa takes a keen interest in the area where she lives. Recent visits to Turkey have fuelled her enthusiasm for the ancient mythology of that part of the world. Her scrupulous research has resulted in two epic stories, The Moon Riders and Voyage of the Snake Lady.

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