SUMMER 1914. When Fran unearths a bone in the garden of Longbarrow House on the same afternoon that Leo breaks his leg, it must surely be just a coincidence. But Fran can’t shake the uneasy feeling that the events are somehow connected, and there is a shift in the atmosphere that leaves her troubled and anxious. Roped into keeping wheelchair-bound Leo company, Fran is forced to listen to his foolish theories about the looming threat of war in Europe. But as the pair start to uncover more secrets buried beneath the garden, they dredge up threatening shadows of the future, and Fran begins to fear that Leo’s dire predictions might be coming true ..

Emma Carroll is one of those authors who has stolen my heart. She has an artful way of combining history with true storytelling. This book is only 89 pages – short and sweet – but still carries a full story.

Fran lives with her family in a cottage on the Longbarrow Estate. Her father manages the gardens and she helps in the summer months. Fran is, a shy loner who prefers her own company to the company of others. She makes a few discoveries in the vegetable garden that make her wonder about what coincidences are.

She teams up with Leo – grandson of the Estate owner – who has broken his leg and together they search for a possible burial site on the Estate grounds. Leo is fascinated by the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand and whether there is to be war.

Set in the eve before the beginning of WWI, this short story encapsulates the worries of both Fran and Leo and shows that yes, sometimes there are coincidences and sometimes there are warnings of a future to come.

I always use the 1928 film Metropolis as reference as the black and white silent film actually predicts the rise of the Nazi’s.

I give this book: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐