Sarah Stewart

A series of letters relating what happens when, after her father loses his job, Lydia Grace goes to live with her Uncle Jim in the city but takes her love for gardening with her.

With her mother too busy and her father away much of the time, Annabelle Clementine Dodd (Belle) helps Beatrice Smith (Bea), the house maid, as she does chores, shops or bakes. At the conclusion of most days, they walk on the beach, with hands joined, relishing the view of the sea. However, one afternoon Belle sneaks outside to play all alone, and something happens that changes her life forever.

A young Amish girl tells her "silent friend," her diary, about all the wondrous experiences she has on her first trip to a city, Chicago.