THE GATE IN THE WALL

Locked out of the silk factory for being but a moment late, an orphan passes through an unexpectedly open gate to a better life in this engrossing tale of expanding horizons from Howard (A Different Kind of Courage, 1996, etc.). Hungry and despairing, Emma peers past an open door to see a gaily painted boat, the Cygnet, moored on the nearby canal, the shipping lanes of Victorian England. The scent of potato is too strong to resist, but she’s just eaten one raw when she is pressed into service as a “huffler” for crusty old Mrs. Minshull, the boat’s owner, helping haul cargoes of potatoes, coal, salt, and the like between towns, while caring for Rosie, the huge, gentle tow horse, and getting regular meals for the first time since her parents’ deaths. Readers will be drawn in, both by Emma’s sense of wonder at the new world that unfolds before her, and by Howard’s evocative portrait of the canal people’s distinctive way of life. Emma develops into a sturdy, loyal, self-reliant child who proves herself by resolving an internal conflict, then by hatching a scheme to keep the Cygnet independent. Although the uniformly kind-hearted supporting cast and neatly wrapped ending give this a conventional narrative arc, the strong female leads and well-established sense of era will remind readers of Karen Cushman’s The Midwife’s Apprentice (1995). (Fiction. 10-12)