Chapter 1: Christmas in May

Not much ever seems to happen in the Appalachian coal-mining town where Ginny lives with her family. That all changes at the start of the summer of 1940, when a letter addressed to her mother shows up in the mailbox. Prompted by news in the letter, her mother announces that she will be taking care of family matters elsewhere - and leaving conniving tomboy Ginny and her introverted older brother Kody at home - while she does so.

When Ginny finds herself consumed by the mystery surrounding a strange old house, she sets out to solve it once and for all. Little does she know what secrets it holds. And neither she, nor Kody, is prepared for how much the summer will change them, or for what they will discover.