Used in good condition: former library book; cover has wear; pages are age-toned and have some usage wear; some staining on pages; binding is still tight and all pages intact.
There had always been just Us Maltbys: the family clan of Mom and Dad and Mary Jane and Sylvia. It seemed that there would always be Scotia: a town complacent, respectable, tree lined - and restricted.
But the day that M.J. and Sylly came home from camp everything changed. That closed corporation, the Maltby clan was devastated, undermined by five foster-children.
"Not a baby, " said Mom Maltby. "Everyone wants them. And not older people either. Their need is great but so much less than the needs of unloved teenagers now struggling merely to exist and not to live."
So there they were, five foster-daughters, five new Maltbys. There was Bobbi the city girl, peroxided, nail polished and gum chewing; the pansy-eyed sisters Gillian and Megan, and then Prudencia and Letitia, the shy, dark-haired Mexicans with the fresh marks of whipping still on their backs.
The clan couldn't suddenly just expand to include five new members nor could a prejudiced town suddenly accept two Mexican girls living among them. But, as summer turned to autumn, both the Maltbys and Scotia learned much of understanding and love.
