The story of a young girl whose life is turned uside down by the death of her mother, the preoccupation of her father, and having no one who understands what she is going through. To try to gain back her father's attention, she decides to stop speaking. This leads her dad to move them from everything she's ever known into the rustic north country, where she finds a friend and a reason to talk again. Good story, though the poverty and abuse endured by her new friend is painful to see. ( )