Caney Creek: From the Appalachian Mountain Story Collection - Paperback

Set during post WWI in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, Sunny strives to find a glimmer of happiness on a poor, dismal farm. She watches intently from the background as her mother dotes on Sunny's older, selfish sister and her father melts into non-existence over a devastating personal loss. Sunny's peace comes in the form of a sunflower garden that she nurtures and tends to with ultimate care. They are her only steadfast, but silent friends, that is, until she happens to meet a stranger. The stranger will forever change her life in ways that a young fifteen year old of the time could never know where love, cruelty and ignorance clash.