Here is a short excerpt from "Hannah's Garden" to give you a glimpse into the story of a teenage girl, family secrets, and a world full of myth and mysteries. Stop a moment to visit the pub where traditional musicians gather to play tunes and are captivated by the tune from a single fiddler.
"...The fiddler caught my glance and smiled. He took up his unusual fiddle and began to play a waltz. The sad, sweet sound of his fiddle lifted slowly and caught the ear of the other musicians crowded at the table drinking beer. They stopped talking, and like ripples radiating out from the table, people throughout the bar gradually became silent, almost entranced, as the melancholy tune soared. The two bartenders, momentarily relieved of customers, leaned back against the counter, arms crossed over their chests as they listened.
"I didn't know the tune, but I could have sworn the tune knew me. It called out to me, dug under my skin until I was sure I could have picked up my own violin and followed along without effort. It was a distant memory; there, just on the edge of my thoughts, almost out of reach, like trying to remember the taste of something sweet. Did it come from up north? Had Poppie hummed the tune while he worked at his easel and I played with my dolls in the studio? As I listened, drawn into the liquid sound, the notes splashed colors across the dingy walls of the bar until they were the deep green of pine trees and long grass. Gold, the color of sunlit wheat stacks and marsh marigolds, gilded the backs and shoulders of the listeners. The dark, murky corners of the ceiling brightened into an open blue sky and the long wooden bar was stained red as the clay on the stream banks, red as the painted clapboard walls of Poppie's farmhouse. I looked down at my violin resting on my lap, and was filled a wave of longing. I could smell the fields behind Poppie's house and the faint perfume of the garden. And I knew, as surely I knew my own name that the fiddler played a tune about coming home."
Text of Hannah's Garden © 2002 Midori Snyder.