A review by underwaterlily
Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards

5.0

Mandy is a treasure! Of course, try being twelve and explaining to a priest that you chose “Rose” as your confirmation name because, when you were ten, you read a book about a lonely little girl who discovers a cottage in the woods and decides to fix it up. Mandy pilfers seeds from the orphanage and plants a beautiful English garden to call her very own.

“You don’t think ‘Mary’ or ‘Bernadette’ will suit you better?”

“No, I love flowers! The book of saints says Rose of Lima is the patron saint of gardeners?”

“Do you want to be a gardener, then?” I had no idea how to tell the priest what I’d realized: a children’s book about a garden had made me want to be a writer.