A Piece of the World

When Calder Bailey’s parents divorce and her mother needs some time to put her house in order, Calder is dismayed to learn that she’s expected to leave her California neighbourhood to stay with her grandmother in Weldon, a village in Vermont. What at first seems dreadful and boring becomes more interesting when Calder discovers a mysterious rock, an enormous green and strangely shaped serpentine boulder in the deep woods above town. This secret piece of the world draws Calder into friendships with Walt, a boy whose family owns the rock and the property it sits on, and with Mr. Cooley, an elderly traveller and amateur geologist staying at the local inn. These friendships are tested, as is Calder’s delicate sense of belonging when it becomes apparent that Walt’s ailing father, Calder’s grandmother, a rich out-of-towner, and the Weldon Development Society all have plans for the boulder. A sensitive story about the small and large accommodations of getting along in life, growing up, and finding a place to call one’s own, A Piece of the World possesses the quiet intensity and lasting charm of Mildred Walker’s best work. Mildred Walker was immediately recognised for her first novel, Fireweed (Nebraska 1994), in 1934. Walker went on to write numerous novels, including The Curlew’s Cry (Nebraska 1994), The Body of a Young Man (Nebraska 1997), and Winter Wheat (Nebraska 1992).