Fourteen-year-old Laurel is hired as lady's maid to Alice Plunderell, an heiress threatened by her evil relatives, Lord and Lady Stayne, who want Alice dead in order to take possession of a hidden treasure.
In the forests of Belorussia in 1942 a group of disabled Russian partisans makes its way to a medical unit while being pursued by traitorous partisans, German soldiers, and vicious dogs.
In seventeenth-century England, twelve-year-old Issy is accused of being a witch and struggles with the belief that she actually does have strange powers.
Four black children growing up in rural Mississippi during the Depression experience racial antagonisms and hard times, but learn from their parents the pride and self-respect they need.
