THE VALLEY OF FLOWERS: A STORY OF A TB SANATORIUM. Brock, Veronica Eddy. Regina, Coteau Books, 1987, 296pp. paper, ISBN 0-919926-75-4 (cloth) $13.95, 0-919926-74-6 (paper) $5.96. CIP Grades 8 to 12 Reviewed by Eve Williams Volume 16 Number 4 1988 July Sandy is a sixteen-year-old girl living very happily at home on a Saskatchewan farm. To Sandy's horror, and in 1947 it was truly horrific, she discovers she has tuberculosis. A tuberculosis "cure" in the late forties was still doubtful and always painful. At first Sandy is convinced the spot on her lung will soon disappear, but the months at the sanatorium pass into years and Sandy actually gets worse. Veronica Eddy Brock, herself born and raised on a farm in southern Saskatchewan, also had TB and spent five years at the Fort San Sanatorium. Clearly, this is an autobiographical novel. Brock conveys very well the dismay of young Sandy. She also gives a blow-by-blow account of every medical process that the young victim endures. I am unable to recommend this book because the author is caught up in describing medical rigours at the expense of the story. Although the setting is depicted well, Sandy is the only character who is fleshed out. The doctors, nurses, and the other patients arc props. The book is so pessimistic that this reader lost all interest in Sandy's fate. Indeed, one reads the last few pages to make sure she survives and puts the book down with a sigh of relief. It is a "teen lit" book and teenagers, as we know, are very interested in the possibility of death and melodrama, but I doubt that many teenagers would stay with the book to the bitter-sweet end. Not recommended. Eve Williams, Dr. L.B. MacNaughton H.S., Moncton, N.B.