The Yangtze in our story is not China's longest river.

But rather it is a magical place in the Canadian countryside on the outskirts of a small town.

There, in the 1950s, a group of children look forward to what promises to be a glorious summer.

There are six of them; all different in age and, more especially, in character.

Nancy-who tells the story- is a down-to-earth girl, practical and inquisitive.

Her only challenge in life is Andrew, her elder brother.

Nancy calls him the big thinker; he's more of a dreamer really.

Then, there are Clare, Amy, Sandra and her teenage sister Tracy.

The children have known each other and their families for most of their lives, but this is the year when everything they ever thought they knew, will change.

It begins, in Nancy's words, "...the day my brother and I decided to poison our mother."