Seven for a Secret

Alison Mews is co-ordinator of the Centre for Instructional Services at
Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Set in a small Newfoundland outport in 1960, this humorous novel
describes the summer everything changes for Melinda and her cousins. The
three girls are as close as sisters and are blissfully unaware of the
carefully knit fabric of secrets that surround them. When a stranger
comes to their isolated community, his actions pick at this fabric and
it begins to unravel.

Told in Melinda’s wry voice, the 1960s are recreated in authentic
detail. The lightness of style is maintained as the characters gradually
develop and preconceptions are dispelled. When Melinda discovers she is
pregnant, she is finally able to win her mother over to her dearest
dream of marrying Matt. Melinda is very much a product of her time and,
while the choices that she and her cousins must face are familiar to
today’s teens, the solutions then were not so obvious. The opening of
a new road to their community mirrors the opening of possibilities for
the girls’ futures. This realistic historical novel won the 2002 Ruth
Schwartz Award. Highly recommended.