The Great Unexpected

From Newbery Medal winner and bestselling author Sharon Creech comes a grand, sweeping yarn that is a celebration of the great and unexpected gifts of love, friendship, and forgiveness. With a starred review from Kirkus Reviews calling it an "enchanting tale to treasure," The Great Unexpected captures the heart and the imagination.

Humorous and heartfelt, this is a story of pairs—of young Naomi and Lizzie, both orphans in present-day Blackbird Tree, USA, and of Sybil and Nula, grown-up sisters from faraway Rook's Orchard, Ireland, who have become estranged.

Young Naomi Deane is brimming with curiosity and her best friend, Lizzie Scatterding, could talk the ears off a cornfield. Naomi has a knack for being around when trouble happens. She knows all the peculiar people in town—like Crazy Cora and Witch Wiggins. But then, one day, a boy drops out of a tree. Just like that. A strangely charming Finn boy. And then the Dingle Dangle man appears, asking all kinds of questions. Curious surprises are revealed—three locked trunks, a pair of rooks, a crooked bridge, and that boy—and soon Naomi and Lizzie find their lives changed forever.

As two worlds are woven together, Creech reveals that hearts can be mended and that there is indeed a gossamer thread that connects us all.

A story woven from two worlds and countless secrets:

Intertwined Stories: Follows two pairs of girls—orphans Naomi and Lizzie in America, and estranged sisters Sybil and Nula in Ireland—whose lives are mysteriously connected. A Mysterious Boy: When a charming boy named Finn literally drops out of a tree, his arrival sets off a chain of curious events involving locked trunks, a pair of rooks, and a crooked bridge. Unlikely Friendships: A heartfelt tale about the bonds between two best friends, two separated sisters, and the strange new boy who changes everything. Found Family and Forgiveness: A touching exploration of what it means to find your family, heal old wounds, and discover the gossamer threads that connect us all.