Oh my stars. How I loved this book.

Abilene is 12 and it's the summer of 1936. Her daddy has sent her to live in the small town of Manifest, Kansas as her momma's been gone a long time and he's realizing that she's not a little girl anymore, that it might not be the best life for her hopping trains from place to place looking for work. Abilene goes to stay with a man named Shady, former bootlegger, current preacher and all-around swell fella. She's curious to find out more about her daddy's life in Manifest as a kid but no one seems willing to share any stories. Not until she meets Madame Sadie.

The story splits in half, one in current day Manifest, 1936, and the other 18 years previous. America is entering WWI and Sadie tells all about 2 best friends, Ned and Jinx, both misfits in their own way who find a home in each other and in Manifest. Abilene has found a box of clues under the floorboards in her room and is determined to piece together the mystery of Manifest, a town with more nationalities than Ellis Island, whose heart seems to have been crushed under the weight of something over the years.

This is a book to be savored on your front porch on a lazy summer's evening, glass of sweet tea at your side and a cat at your feet. I loved Abilene and the cast of characters in Manifest, from the Girl Friday town reporter to the "spinster" chemistry teacher and the midwife nun. Ultimately it's a tale about identity, loss and redemption with humor and heartbreak along the way. A truly wonderful story.