"Nona took the parcel from the postman and brought it to Mother. Written on it was The Misses Fell. It's for Anne and Belinda, said Nona.
"It might be for you as well, said Mother. 'You are a Miss Fell.
""Am I?' asked Nona in surprise."
No one in India had called her "Miss Fell," and "Mother" was really her uncle's wife. Eight-year-old Nona couldn't remember her own mother, and now Father had sent her way back to England to live with her three cousins, Anne, Belinda, and Tom.
The contents of the package were a perfect present for a homesick little girl. There were two tiny Japanese dolls-one for Nona, one for Belinda; fourteen-year-old Anne was too old for dolls. Nona's heart went out to them at once. But Belinda rejected them as being strange, so Nona cared for them both.
Miss Happiness and Miss Flower—as the dolls were named long before by Great-Aunt Lucy, who had sent them—changed Nona's whole life. Dolls can't move alone, nor can they speak, but they can feel and, above all, they can wish; and, as Rumer Godden's young readers know, wishes can sometimes accomplish miracles. Even Tom, without realizing it, came under the spell of the dolls' wishing and built them a miniature replica of a Japanese home.
The simple plans, drawn up by a real boy, are included at the back of the book -just in case another little girl and her dolls work their charms on a willing (and bandy) boy, or a father!
—from the dust jacket
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