This debut novel-in-verse by M. L. Bell tells the story of Emma Clark, a young women living in the early 1900s. When her family boards the Pacific (Transcontinental) Railroad and heads for Colorado, eight-year-old Emma Clark isn’t sure what to feel, besides a strange mix of resentment, excitement, and curiosity. Leaving everything she’s ever known behind in Missouri, Emma is forced to adapt to her new life, while still facing the typical challenges associated with growing up. But just when she believes that she has put her struggles behind her, Emma’s mother dies—and her grief-stricken father disappears from her life forever. Left alone in the world, Emma (now a young woman) must simultaneously cope with her grief and be able to look past her traumatic childhood to make a life for herself in her still secluded, unfamiliar Colorado town—and discover who she really is when there’s no one else to turn to.