Thirteen-year-old Rachel's dreams of a career in ballet dancing are shattered when her parents divorce. Rachel blames her mother for the break-up and her resentment is increased when her mother takes them away from Toronto to live in an old farmhouse out in the country. To make matters even worse, her mother has agreed to take in sixteen-year old Jess, a boy from the slums of Toronto, for the summer. Jess's unfailing good nature, his patience with Rachel's younger sister, Chris, his willingness to help, just make Rachel more frustrated and hurt. It takes a visit from her father and a near tragedy to help Rachel realize that "unicorns do exist--if you know where to look."
I'm an award-winning writer of historical and fantasy fiction for children and young adults. Writing has always been a passion of mine, although when I was young I never thought that I could be a published author. I think I believed that all published writers were either dead or English, probably because, although I was born in Canada, I lived in Argentina until I went back for university. It was only after I was married and had children of my own that I got the idea of writing my own stories.
I followed the writer's usual path of rejection slips until I started selling short stories to magazines and school anthologies. It still took another six years until I finally published my first book. I've been writing ever since. You can check out my work at www.karleenbradford.com
During a school visit a young boy once asked me, "How many books are you going to write before you die?"
It's 23 and counting.
