Wisconsin, 1961. Evelyn βButtonβ Peters is nine when Winnalee Malone and her sister, Freeda, blow into townβand from the moment she sees them, Button knows this will be a summer unlike any other. Much to her motherβs dismay, Button is fascinated by the Malone sisters, especially Winnalee, a feisty scrap of a thing who carries around a shiny silver urn containing her motherβs ashes and a tome she calls βThe Book of Bright Ideas.β It is here, Winnalee tells Button, that she records everything she learns: her answers to the mysteries of life. But sometimes those mysteries conceal a truth better left buried. In this summer of dry heat and family upheaval, loyalties will be tested, unlikely alliances formed, and devastating secrets revealed. And when itβs over, no oneβfrom Winnalee and her sister to Button and her familyβwill ever be the same.
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