A year in the life of a 13-year-old girl in 19th-century New England. Catherine Cabot Hall begins her diary in 1830, a few years after the death of her mother. She relates her life on the family farm where she lives with her father and her sister. As the year passes, Catherine encounters both happiness and sorrows as well as events that will change her life forever. Winner of the 1980 Newbery Medal.

This novel, written in diary form, tells of "a pivotal year for 19th-century New Englander Catherine Cabot Hill--one of change, loss, and leave taking . . . a low-key, yet intense and reflective book".-- School Library Journal Starred Review