It’s 1950 in Morgan Hill, Tennessee, and life is good. Sarah Ivorie, the youngest of seven children and the only daughter, now in her early thirties, is considered an old maid by most of the town. She has spent most of her marrying years caring for her aging parents until their deaths. Now, alone and without companionship except for her loyal dog, Sally, Ivorie has more time on her hands than she knows what to do with.

Her only male callers are the man from the bank who wants to buy her land and the widowed neighbor. Ivorie is enjoying the evening visits of her neighbor, who shows up nightly with produce from his garden, when a second man enters her life. She first sees Peter when she catches him stealing vegetables from her garden. Her faithful watchdog, Sally, has been quickly won over by the small child and never makes a sound when Peter makes his nightly visits then returns to his home on the mountain. Enter Ivorie, not really looking for a project but knowing somehow that this child is her responsibility. Ivorie will risk everything, her reputation, her life, her future to rescue this little man.

Peter shares his life with the reader through thoughts in his head, but because he has a cleft palate, he is not able to speak them aloud. When Ivorie and her brother Henry find a way to get Peter the medical help he needs, no one is prepared for the first words out of his mouth. This is a moving story with well-developed characters and descriptive passages that put the reader on that mountain. Most readers recognize the author for her Christmas stories and will be excited to learn that she is branching out into general fiction. Though entertaining, this story leaves you breathless and challenged to make life better for those around you.