"I loved this book. It's one of those books that you just want to give
to everybody." --Nancy Pearl on NPR's Morning Edition
Part coming-of-age story, part mystery, The Trouble with Goats and
Sheep is a quirky and utterly charming debut about a community in need
of absolution and two girls learning what it means to belong.
England, 1976. Mrs. Creasy is missing and the Avenue is alive with
whispers. The neighbors blame her sudden disappearance on the heat wave,
but ten-year-olds Grace and Tilly aren't convinced. As the summer
shimmers endlessly on, the girls decide to take matters into their own
hands. Inspired by the local vicar, they go looking for God--they
believe that if they find Him they might also find Mrs. Creasy and bring
her home.
Spunky, spirited Grace and quiet, thoughtful Tilly go door to door in
search of clues. The cul-de-sac starts to give up its secrets, and the
amateur detectives uncover much more than ever imagined. As they try to
make sense of what they've seen and heard, a complicated history of
deception begins to emerge. Everyone on the Avenue has something to
hide, a reason for not fitting in.
In the suffocating heat of the summer, the ability to guard these
differences becomes impossible. Along with the parched lawns and the
melting pavement, the lives of all the neighbors begin to unravel. What
the girls don't realize is that the lies told to conceal what happened
one fateful day about a decade ago are the same ones Mrs. Creasy was
beginning to peel back just before she disappeared.
