A Tiny Piece of Blue

For fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds and Lisa Wingate’s Shelterwood comes a heartwarming historical novel following a homeless young girl as she struggles to survive during the Great Depression.

Rural Michigan, 1934. During the throes of the Great Depression, thirteen-year-old Silstice Trayson finds herself homeless, abandoned by her parents after a devastating house fire. Nearby, aging midwestern farmers Edna and Vernon Goetz are pillars of the community, but when do-gooder Edna takes up Silstice’s cause, Vernon digs in his heels, displaying his true nature as an ornery curmudgeon.

Theirs is a quiet-seeming community, but danger lurks beneath the bucolic façade. With so many youngsters leaving home to make it on their own, child trafficking has grown rampant, and Silstice and her two spirited young brothers soon find themselves in the sights of a ring of kidnappers that’s exploiting local children into forced labor—and worse. Meanwhile Vernon finds himself at risk of losing everything.

Narrated by Silstice, Vernon, and Edna, A Tiny Piece of Blue sets the customs and traditions of rural Michigan against a backdrop of thievery, bribery, and child-trafficking—weaving a suspenseful yet tender tale that ultimately winds its way to a heartwarming conclusion.

Charlotte Whitney grew up on a Michigan farm and often heard stories about the difficult years of the Great Depression. Her widely acclaimed debut historical novel, Threads: A Depression Era Tale was followed by the historical mystery The Unveiling of Polly Forrest, which won multiple awards. She is also the author of two nonfiction books and a romance novel, I Dream in White. Charlotte received a master’s degree in English from the University of Michigan and spent much of her working career in higher education. An avid reader, she loves libraries and book clubs. She lives in Tempe, Arizona, with her husband and two Labrador retrievers.