From the back cover: In the bitter, late-winter month of February, 1921, my mother remarried, to a man of honourable name and esteemed profession, James Allen Matheson III. He brought with him a daughter, Laurie, a timid young creature somewhat younger than I, whose radiant golden beauty outshone both sun and stars. How thrilled I was to at last have a sister—to be a sister. Someone to talk with, share secrets with, teach to ride! For riding horses I loved more than anything in the world, and there was no one I’d rather spend my time with than my beautiful horse, Zusza. She was the love of my life. Until Laurie. Oh, my beloved Laurie, my poppet. How could I have known then what you would mean to me . . . what our innocent relationship would become. I could not have imagined the pain we would suffer—the unspeakable shame, the woundings, the scars. The silent misery and torment, which drew us together, binding our hearts in a way few could comprehend, in that crucible of traumas only you and I would come to know. For secrets such as ours must never be told. Not to another living soul. Even God has forsaken us. . . . A bittersweet, heartrending story of two young innocents caught in a web of cruelty, madness, and abuse, Forsaken Sparrows in the Garden of Winter will challenge your beliefs and open your heart, if you surrender to its raw honesty and truth. Such soul journeys are not always easy, but inspiration and hope are the reward.