Reliance, Illinois

"Reliance, Illinois has it all mystery, politics, war; love, death, and art. Every page is a pleasure."
Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Illinois, 1874: With a birthmark covering half her face, thirteen-year-old Madelyn Branch is accustomed to cold and awkward greetings, and expects no less in the struggling town of Reliance. After all, her mother, Rebecca, was careful not to mention a daughter in the Matrimonial Times ad that brought them there. When Rebecca weds, Madelyn poses as her mother s younger sister and earns a grudging berth in her new house. Deeply injured by her mother s deceptions, Madelyn soon leaves to enter the service of Miss Rose Werner, prodigal daughter of the town s founder. Miss Rose is a suffragette and purveyor of black market birth control who sees in Madelyn a project and potential acolyte. Madelyn, though, wants to feel beautiful and loved, and she pins her hopes on William Stark, a young photographer and haunted Civil War veteran.