Mary Adare

Mary Adare is abandoned by her mother when she is only eleven. While visiting a fair, Mary's mother takes a plane ride, thus leaving Mary alone with her fourteen-year-old brother and her baby brother, and never comes back. Mary waits long past a reasonable amount of time. A man takes the baby from her, telling her he is going to allow his wife to nurse the child and then will bring it back, but he never does. After this, Mary takes charge. Mary takes her older brother home, packs a few things including her mother's jewelry box, and boards a boxcar headed to North Dakota where her mother's sister lives. Once there, however, Mary's brother also abandons her, re-boarding the train for destinations unknown, leaving Mary to face their relatives alone.

Mary makes herself an important part of her Aunt Fritzie's family, making breakfast every morning for...