“Over a hill, at the end of a road, by a glittering stream that twists and turns, stands a house, where twelve children were born and raised …” The farmhouse was on property that author/artist Sophie Blackall purchased. She imagines the lives of the white family who lived there—of secrets and dreams, music and books, chores and grumbling, seasons and sickness; of making potato print wallpaper and sewing shell buttons; of growing up and growing older and leaving one by one. Then the house stood empty, and slowly eroded, nature moving into rooms that once knew human laughter and love, until the day Blackall stumbles upon the house and finds treasures in the ruins. “I filled my arms with wallpaper scraps and rain-soaked books and brittle maps and mud-caked dresses and handkerchiefs and a button that was once a shell in the sea …” She began to imagine the lives of those who lived there. A lyrical narrative of abundant detail unfolds against equally captivating illustrations using ink, watercolor, gouache, colored pencil, and bits of the farmhouse, such as wallpaper, books, newspapers, and clothing, giving the impression of peering in on the lives that occupied the space. An author’s note and endpapers with photos of some of Blackall’s discoveries add another layer of fascination to this account. (Ages 4-9)