The night rainbow - Claire King

During one long, hot summer, five-year-old Pea and her little sister Margot play alone in the meadow behind their house, in a small village in Southern France. Her mother is too sad to take care of them: she left her happiness in the hospital, along with the baby. Pea's father has died in an accident, and Maman, burdened by her double grief, has retreated to a place where Pea cannot reach her. Then Pea meets Claude, a man who seems to love the meadow as she does. Pea believes that she and Margot have found a friend - maybe even a new papa. But why do the villagers view Claude with suspicion, and what secret is he keeping in his strange, empty house?