Joey and his younger sister, Mary Alice, who live in Prohibition-era Chicago, travel to a rural part of Illinois to visit their tough and vivacious Grandma Dowdel, who concocts outlandish schemes against various members of her small-town community.
Archer has four important role models in his life: his dad, his grandfather, his uncle Paul, and his favorite teacher, Mr. McLeod. When Uncle Paul and Mr. McLeod get married, Archer's sixth-grade year becomes one he'll never forget.
When young Mary Cooke becomes a servant at Whitwell Hall in 1911, she does not imagine how her life will be manipulated by her mistress, Amanda Whitwell, nor how their lives will be intertwined.
In 1911, Miss Amanda Whitwell of Whitwell Hall, bound by class conventions that prove unequal to her plans and passions, draws her maid, Miranda Cooke, into a journey of betrayal, tragedy, and disaster.
