Grandma left them a farmhouse, a letter, and each other. The county thinks that isn't enough.


The envelope arrives at twenty to eight on an ordinary Tuesday. Albemarle County Social Services. A home welfare visit, the last Friday in June — five weeks to prove that three sisters can run a farmhouse alone.

Hazel is eighteen and has been the adult in the house since the morning Grandma didn't wake up. June is sixteen and can fix anything except her temper. Clara is thirteen, keeps a flower journal, and has just hammered a sign into the dirt at the far edge of the field: KEEP OUT UNLESS YOU'RE A SISTER.

The roof leaks. The savings won't cover shingles. The women at the Saturday market have already decided how this ends. And folded in a drawer under the recipe cards is a letter Hazel hasn't been able to open — the one that would take her twenty minutes down the road to Charlottesville, and away from the only two people she has left.

Set in the orchards and blue hills of Crozet, Virginia, this is the story of the five weeks before the county comes: a secret garden planted from twenty-year-old seeds, a peach bread that ends arguments, a neighbour who knocks, a new girl with a pot of soup, and three girls learning the difference between holding a house together and holding each other.


You'll love this book if you want:

A clean, wholesome family story with no profanity, no explicit content, and real stakes

Sisters who bicker, slam doors, and show up for each other anyway

Small-town Virginia — peach orchards, a Saturday market behind the old railroad depot, porch light on the Blue Ridge

A Sister's Keepsake after every chapter: Grandma's peach bread, a three-step home repair page, how to press a wildflower, a peace rule for after the loud days, and a letter-to-your-future-self prompt you can actually use

A reading-circle guide at the end, made for a quiet night with your daughter or a coffee with your sister

A story you can finish in one evening and think about for a week


Perfect for readers of Kristin Hannah, Fannie Flagg, Lisa Wingate, and anyone who grew up on Little Women or Anne of Green Gables.


What early readers said:

"A very well written story about three teenage sisters." — Melissa J.

"Super sweet story about 3 sisters learning to love themselves." — Jackie

"There's not many wholesome stories out there anymore." — Anna C.

"Great book to open conversations on responsibility and feelings." — R.A.


About the author: Dr. Rabea Hadi is a board-certified family physician, medical scholar, and academic trainer who spent his career listening to people describe the hardest week of their lives. He writes full-length clean fiction and educational nonfiction, and is the bestselling author of the Choose Your Quest series.