Twelve-year-old Peyton McKenzie isnt ready to share her widowed father with anyonecertainly not with her cigarette-smoking redheaded cousin Nora, who just rolled into sleepy Lytton, Georgia, this summer behind the wheel of a pink Thunderbird. But her father seems to like Nora, and prim Aunt Augusta hates her, which means she cant be all bad. And when Nora takes a job teaching the first integrated honors class at the local high school, it appears she might be staying forever.
But theres something troubling Peytons unorthodox cousin, something more than the outspoken town gossips complaints about Noras unsouthern ways. When the truth comes to light, it will rock the segregated small communityand teach Peyton an unforgettable lesson about the enormous cost of love.
