War hits home -- Victory garden -- Wisteria mansion -- Polio! -- Bobby -- Epidemiologists -- Bobby's toys -- Outcasts! -- Hickory daily record -- Hospital visit -- Pete -- Hearse comes back -- Funeral -- Plan -- Escape -- Tough as hickory -- Colored girl -- Hospital -- Bottle collection -- Imogene's people -- Muddy wide river -- Visiting day -- Wheelchair -- "Miracle of hickory" -- Charlotte memorial -- President -- Victory!
Summary
When teenager Ann Fay takes over as "man of the house" for her absent soldier father, she struggles to keep the family and herself together in the face of personal tragedy and the 1940s polio epidemic in North Carolina.
