First published 1997
Nine-year-old Jamie watches his world change in an instant when violence enters his home. He escapes with his mother and baby sister Nin to a small trailer hidden in the woods. The cramped space feels both safe and strange as they try to rebuild their lives far from danger. Jamie struggles with fear and confusion while his mother works to heal from trauma. Nin needs care and attention that stretches everyone thin. New people enter their lives, offering help that Jamie finds hard to accept. Trust feels impossible when everything familiar has been torn away. The family must learn to depend on strangers and rediscover faith in each other. Jamie faces the challenge of being a child while carrying adult worries about safety and survival.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, resilience
Setting: Woods, Trailer
Period: 20th-century
126 pages · Hardcover · Perfection Learning Prebound
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence, violence