by Barbara Stuber
At fifteen, Iris is a hobo of sorts - no home, no family, no direction. After her mother's early death, Iris's father focuses on big plans for his new shoe stores and his latest girlfriend, and has no time for his daughter.
Unbeknownst to her, he hires Iris out as housekeeper and companion for a country doctor's elderly mother. Suddenly Iris is alone, stuck in gritty rural Missouri, too far from her only friend Leroy and too close to a tenant farmer, Cecil Deets, who menaces the neighbors and, Iris suspects, his own daughter.
Iris is buoyed by the warmth and understanding the doctor and his mother show her, but just as she starts to break out of her shell, tragedy strikes. Iris must find the guts and cunning to take aim at the devil incarnate and discover if she is really as helplessor as hopelessas she once believed.
Lyrical, yet humorous, Barbara Stuber's debut novel is the unforgettable story of a girl who struggles to cast aside her long-standing grief and doubt and, in the span of one dusty summer, learn to trust, hope, andultimatelylove.
"Starred Review.
Stuber's tender, evocative style aptly portrays both the evil and the good while remaining emotionally true. Characters are rounded, the plot slow but steady and the imagery engaging in this noteworthy debut." - Kirkus Reviews
"This thoughtful novel offers strong character development and an engaging protagonist. Grades 6-8." - School Library Journal
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Barbara can be found online at barbarastuber.com
Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem.
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