Margaret is almost 9 when she sees her grandparents’ farm for the first time. Clutching her mother’s hand so tightly that her knuckles turn white, she is consumed by a mixture of exhilaration at the novelty of it all and fear of the unknown. The pungent smell of the air, laden with musk and cut grass, tickles her nose, while the mud sticking to her shoes almost makes her lose her footing. “So, is this what living on a farm is like?” she wonders. Her mother goes, disappearing into the muggy summer’s end of 1935. She’ll come back and get her soon. One day. When things are easier with her father. In the meantime, Margaret will stay here with Grandpa, Grandma and of course Aunt Susan, whose severity will prove a challenge for her. The farmhouse is basic with no running water, telephone or electricity... Although Margaret is from a modest background, it all seems very different from the city. But with a personality like hers, she can adapt to anything.And a strong personality will be vital if she’s to cope with life on the farm, which is nothing like her children’s books have led her to think. It’s not all kindly animals and lazing about in the sun: life is tough and work is a necessity. Margaret has no idea that she’ll soon become a specialist goat-milker, a professional carrot-lifter, an excellent walker, an expert woodland orienteer, an experienced hut-builder and past master at sneaking away from the farm, or that the people she meets will change her life forever.