A Year Down Yonder

During the recession of 1937, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice leaves Chicago to spend a year with Grandma Dowdel in a small Illinois town. She expects separation from home and an unfamiliar school to make the arrangement difficult. Instead, her formidable grandmother's schemes, fierce loyalties, and unconventional sense of justice draw Mary Alice into local conflicts, unexpected friendships, and community life. Over the year, she begins to understand both Grandma and her own capacity to adapt.