First published 1999
Charlotte Parkhurst thrives at the boys' orphanage where she was raised. She avoids dolls, wins her fights, and spends every free moment in the stables. Horses respond to her touch like no one else's, and she dreams of owning a ranch where she can train them. But Charlotte lives in the mid-1800s, when girls face a future without choices. Society expects her to abandon her dreams for a conventional woman's life. Charlotte refuses to accept these limits. She devises a brilliant deception that will let her pursue the life she wants. Her secret plan works so well that almost nobody discovers the truth. This story follows Charlotte as she fights for the freedom to be herself in a world that would deny her everything she loves.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, adventure, young-adult, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, found-family, gender-disguise
Setting: United States
Period: Mid-1800s
160 pages · Paperback · Scholastic Paperbacks