Wild Orphan

Set in rural Missouri in the 1920s, the story deals with difficult issues that confront the gentle moral spirit of Elizabeth Eibers, who is placed in an orphanage when hard times force her mother to take a night job. There, suffering under the strict discipline of Father Gastmann, she finds solace in her growing friendship with Georgiana, a tough, "wild" orphan. And when her mother contracts tuberculosis, Elizabeth is forced to confront the truth about her missing father.

Kathryn Adams Doty has worked as an actress, a teacher, and a psychologist. Her first novel, A Long Year of Silence, won the 2005 Midwest Book Award in Young Adult Fiction and was a finalist for the prestigious Minnesota Book Award. She lives in Mankato, Minnesota.