Surrounded by Books

I was utterly charmed from the first page of this historical novel. Set in the 1920's, it tells the story of Garnet Richards, a young woman who chafes at the strict rules her mother, and then her aunt lay out for her, ladylike pastimes, like embroidering for her hope chest, marriage after high school. When Garnet is sent away for the summer, to a lakeside resort with her even stricter aunt, she meets a flapper named Isabella. I really loved the way this evolved, the descriptions of the setting, and of Garnet's cutouts of paper birds- transforming her passion for learning and science into something more ladylike... and the way her friendship, and relationship with Isabella evolve. I zoomed through it in one sitting.