A Tiny Piece of Blue : A Novel

Rural Michigan, 1934. During the throes of the Great Depression, thirteen-year-old Silstice Trayson finds herself homeless, abandoned by her parents after a devastating house fire. Nearby, aging midwestern farmers Edna and Vernon Goetz are pillars of the community, but when do-gooder Edna takes up Silstice''s cause, Vernon digs in his heels, displaying his true nature as an ornery curmudgeon. Theirs is a quiet-seeming community, but danger lurks beneath the bucolic facade. With so many youngsters leaving home to make it on their own, child trafficking has grown rampant, and Silstice and her two spirited young brothers soon find themselves in the sights of a ring of kidnappers that''s exploiting local children into forced labor - and worse. Meanwhile Vernon finds himself at risk of losing everything. Narrated by Silstice, Vernon, and Edna, A Tiny Piece of Blue sets the customs and traditions of rural Michigan against a backdrop of thievery, bribery, and child-trafficking - weaving a suspenseful yet tender tale that ultimately winds its way to a heartwarming conclusion.