The flight of Gemma Hardy : a novel

Summary: When her widower father drowns at sea, ten-year-old Gemma Hardy, an only child, is taken from her native Iceland to Scotland, to live with her uncle's family. When she receives a scholarship to a private school, Gemma believes she's found the perfect solution, and she eagerly sets out again to a new home; but at Claypoole she finds herself treated as an unpaid servant. To Gemma's delight, the school finally goes bankrupt in 1959 and she takes a job as an au pair on the Orkney Islands. The remote Blackbird Hall belongs to Mr. Sinclair, a London businessman; his eight-year-old niece is Gemma's charge. The unlikely pair are drawn to one another, but their courtship is cut short by Gemma's discovery of a secret that has shadowed her employer's life; soon after, she resolves to flee to mainland Scotland and vows to forget Mr. Sinclair which proves harder than she imagines.

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