The highly anticipated new work of historical fiction from Katherine Paterson, winner of the prestigious 2006 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

Rosa Serutti has a great deal to worry about. Ever since Papa died in a mill accident, Mamma has ceased to sing around their cramped tenement apartment. But when a strike against the corrupt mill owners is declared, Mamma goes out singing union songs and marching with the strikers. What will happen to Rosa and Little Ricci? They are sent to Barre, Vermont, with other children to live safely until the strike is over. On the train, a strange boy begs her to pretend that he is her brother so that he can stay in Barre long enough to find money to go to New York. Alone and far from home, she agrees to protect him… even though she suspects that he is hiding some terrible secret.

“Katherine Paterson is a brilliant psychologist who gets right under the skin of the vulnerable young people she creates, whether in historical or exotic settings, or in the grim reality of the USA today. With a deft aesthetic touch she avoids simple solutions, building instead on the inner strength and courage of her main characters.”—The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Jury