SYNOPSIS

Fifteen-year-old Amy Blackwell leads a lonely life that’s hard to endure. It’s 1917 in rural Arkansas, and she’s being raised by her strict grandfather, a Bible-thumping preacher and his sinister wife whom town folks call “nuts.” Their pious demands doom her to guilt-ridden failure and “thou shalt” hypocrisy, and a dark family secret rules their home. Amy struggles to keep up a smiling facade. When all efforts to please her grandparents fall short, she plots to run away with her sister. Instead, her teenage passion prevails and she marries at sixteen to leave home. Amy’s journey is exciting at first, but turns sobering with a string of calamities—including death and disease. Even worse, now she’s trapped by the high expectations of two families. When her grandmother’s dark secret unravels, Amy is devastated but must find the strength to go on. With determination that most adults couldn’t muster, she brings love and hope back into her life.