Finished it!
"She had forgotten that summer would come again, that the green would spread over the frozen fields, that the earth would be turned up to the sun and the seed sown, and that the meadows would renew themselves. Was this what strengthened these New Englanders to endure the winter, the knowledge that Summer's return would be all the richer for waiting."
What a lovely book. I wish I had read this as a child, I know I would have adored it and would have wanted to be Kit.