Herself and Janet Reachfar

George and Tom, who worked on the farm called ‘Reachfar’, were Janet’s greatest friends. ‘Herself’ was what they called Janet’s Granny when she spoke in a special voice. When it was Herself who ordered George and Tom to bring the sheep off the hills in the unexpected snow, Janet went too. George and Tom went up to the Heights and Janet went into the warm barn with Fly, her collie, but she couldn’t help thinking about the poor cold sheep on the East Hill. If she just opened the gate, Fly could easily bring the sheep into the shelter of the trees, and she wouldn’t be going out, not really out on to the forbidden East Hill…But of course she did, and what came of it, in the end, changed Herself back into Granny, loved and loving – and perhaps even a little magical, for didn’t she know all the time?

Reviews of Herself and Janet Reachfar

'… will appreciate how the wisdom of the Reachfar grandmother and Janet's sense and spirit have transferred to this picture/ story book which tells how the child ventures beyond bounds for the sake of a snowbound sheep and lamb. Mairi Hedderwick's delicately tinted Scottish hill scenes and interiors show with equal skill, weather, action and personality' – Sunday Times 'The tender illustrations of Mairi Hedderwick are in complete sympathy with the text' – Books for Your Children