Lillie Mae's mama has just died, and with her father not back yet from the Great War that ended over a year before, Lillie is shipped by her mean Aunt Helen off to relatives she has never met: Uncle Dallas and Aunt Esther.

Although she misses her parents terribly, Lillie Mae feels welcomed and loved by Uncle Dallas and Aunt Esther. She learns to play the violin and whistle in the warmth of her new home — but when they talk of her staying on, she can't believe it. Surely sooner or later her daddy will find her?

Meanwhile, there is something mysterious happening at Whistler's Stump. Lillie Mae soon realizes a connection exists between the mean boy at school and whatever it is that wakes her up in the middle of the night. Solving the mysteries of Whistler's Stump and her father's disappearance is heartbreaking, but also it is the beginning of a new life for Lillie Mae.

"I walked back to the school feeling a hundred years old. I felt miserable for talking to Aunt Esther that way. After all, she'd been nothing but kind to me. But I couldn't let her say Daddy was dead. He wasn't. He couldn't be."

Recognition

An International Reading Association Young Adult Choice for 2004