Tumbleweed Skies

The moment Ellie and her father pull up in front of her Grandmother Acklebee’s farm in Weybolt, Saskatchewan, Ellie knows the place doesn’t want her. And it’s the last place she wants to be! But Ellie has no choice. Her father was laid off from the mill in Moose Jaw, and he’s been taken on by the Marvelous Cookware Company as a salesman, a job that will take him clear across the province and back. The road is no place for a nine-year-old, but leaving Ellie with her grandmother is definitely a last resort, and Ellie is devastated. Ellie doesn’t know her grandmother, who angrily blames her son-in-law and granddaughter for her daughter’s death. And although her Uncle Roger is a kind man, Ellie is quickly cowed by the old woman, who shows her no kindness. Determined to survive the situation with her dignity intact, Ellie isn’t about to show her grandmother that she can be hurt. But with only an injured magpie to befriend and care for, Ellie is desperately lonely. Uncle Roger arranges for Ellie to visit Marcy Knowles, a girl Ellie’s age. Marcy wants to play by her rules, and she never misses the opportunity to lord it over Ellie with her superior home, clothes, toys, and pet. Nevertheless, Marcy is interested in seeing Ellie’s magpie, so a return visit is arranged. Quickly bored by a house with no toys or other distractions, Marcy finds ways to get into mischief and blame Ellie for it. But to Ellie’s surprise, her grandmother appears to know exactly what the other girl is up to. And although they never talk about it, Ellie begins to feel that perhaps she and her grandmother might be on the same wavelength after all. But her grandmother won’t soften easily, and Ellie finds that the more time she spends with the old woman, the more she wishes for her grandmother’s love and affection. And the more she learns about her mother’s early life and her Uncle Roger, the more Ellie begins to feel a kinship with them at last. And although her grandmother can’t show affection, Ellie is prepared to make one last gesture. Maybe on the day she is finally to leave the farm, Ellie will find a way to melt her grandmother’s heart, just a little. Set on the Canadian prairies of the mid-fifties, Tumbleweed Skies is a moving story of isolation, loneliness, and one family’s journey to heal itself.