From the author of Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse and The Cape Ann comes a fresh tale of resilient womanhood in Harvester, Minnesota.

Developing up in early twentieth-century Illinois, Ruby Drake is a happy child. But one winter’s night, her beloved parents perish in an accident-and all of a sudden Ruby discovers herself penniless and nearly alone in the world. Her new path eventually will take her to Harvester, where she actually is fortunate to find focus on the inviting Schoonover plantation. Kind Emma, forward-thinking Henry, about Ruby and Roland and their hired men-ambitious Dennis and reserved Jake-soon turn into a second family members towards the orphaned teenager.

At a historical minute when young women are expected to become centered on courtship and marriage, the industrious, bright Ruby searches for opportunities to increase her horizons at every step. Mastering her responsibilities around the farm. Understanding how to smoke cigarettes. Borrowing books from the neighborhood lending library, reading devotedly and expansively: mythology, romance, poetry. And falling in love with her married neighbor, Roland: ‘the most beautiful man-maybe in the world.’ However when Ruby is asked to look after Roland’s wife in the wake of tragedy, she is torn between duty and interest, between what has been her great deal and what could possibly be.