**Winner of the 2011 Newbery Award.
**
The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to
the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I'd seen only in Gideon's
stories: Manifest--A Town with a rich past and a bright future.
Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train,
sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works
a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of
universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to
learn about the boy her father once was.
Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find
that it's just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment
quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full
of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the
Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends,
Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they
are warned to "Leave Well Enough Alone."
Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path
to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who
only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest's history is
full of colorful and shadowy characters--and long-held secrets. The more
Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her
father played in that history. And as Manifest's secrets are laid bare
one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the
town.
Powerful in its simplicity and rich in historical detail, Clare
Vanderpool's debut is a gripping story of loss and redemption.
