Moon Over Manifest

Book info: Moon Over Manifest (Hardcover, 8 pages – Listening Library (Audio), 2011) – Listening Library (Audio), 2011. Language: Eng.

The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I’d seen only in Gideon’s stories: Manifest—A Town with a rich past and a bright future. Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town. Powerful in its simplicity and rich in historical detail, Clare Vanderpool’s debut is a gripping story of loss and redemption.CHARACTERS Manifest townspeople of 1918  Shady Howard: saloon owner and bootlegger Jinx: con artist extraordinaire Ned Gillen: Manifest High School track star Hattie Mae Harper: up-and-coming journalist for the Manifest Herald The Hungarian Woman: owner and operator of Miss Sadie’s Divining Parlor Sister Redempta: nun, not a universal Ivan DeVore: postmaster Velma T. Harkrader: chemistry teacher and maker of home remedies Mr. Underhill: undertaker Hadley Gillen: Ned’s father and owner of the hardware store Eudora Larkin: president of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Manifest chapter) Pearl Ann Larkin: daughter of Mrs. Larkin, and Ned’s girl Arthur Devlin: mine owner Lester Burton: pit boss Finn: Jinx’s uncle   Additional townspeople and their countries of origin  Donal MacGregor: Scotland Callisto Matenopoulos: Greece Casimir and Etta (and little Eva) Cybulskis: Poland Olaf and Greta Akkerson: Norway Mama Santoni: Italy Hermann Keufer: Germany Nikolai Yezierska: Russia  Manifest townspeople of 1936  Abilene Tucker: new girl in town Gideon Tucker: Abilene’s father Lettie and Ruthanne: friends of Abilene Pastor Shady Howard: still a little shady Hattie Mae Macke: still writing “Hattie Mae’s News Auxiliary” Ivan DeVore: still postmaster Velma T.: still the chemistry teacher Sister Redempta: still a nun Miss Sadie