The Night Rainbow

the long version

It is summer in the south of France, and Pea and her little sister Margot spend their days inventing games in the meadow behind their house. Their father has died in an accident, and their mother has just lost a baby. Maman is English, already isolated in this small, foreign village, and in her compounded grief, she has retreated even further. Pea and Margot can't make Maman happy again. When Pea befriends Claude, a man who seems to love the meadow as she does, she wonders if he could be a new papa. But why do the other villagers view Claude with suspicion, and what secrets does his large empty house hold?