Sarah's Legacy

Emily Walters Gregor is a graduate student in 20th-century American
literature and an ESL writing tutor at the University of Minnesota.

Although 12-year-old Sarah and her mother live in a small and dingy
apartment in small-town Ontario, Sarah has never really thought of
herself as poor. She knows that her mother has done whatever she could
to support their small family ever since the death of Sarah’s father
before Sarah was even born.

But when Sarah and her mother receive a letter telling them that
Sarah’s late great-aunt has left them everything, they realize that
this is a chance for them to improve their lives dramatically—even
though the conditions of the inheritance include moving to Miramichi,
New Brunswick, and looking after aunt Sarah’s 11 pets.

Once in Miramichi, Sarah discovers her aunt’s diary hidden in a hope
chest. With her new friends and a disaster with her mother’s new
boyfriend, Sarah hardly has time to read the letters, but she gradually
learns of the heartbreak that led her aunt to become a recluse in
Miramichi. On the last page of the diary, Sarah finds her aunt’s true
legacy: the imperative to “live your life” and not hide, as her aunt
did, from both love and heartbreak.

Although the voice of the protagonist occasionally slips from that of a
12-year-old girl to someone much older and wiser, Sarah’s Legacy is an
appealing novel that is never didactic or simplistic. Even the minor
characters are complex and well crafted, and the story’s overlapping
plotlines are engaging but not frenetic. Recommended.