Crow

Crow is the main character and protagonist in the novel. She is twelve years old and lives on a tiny island next to Cuttyhunk, one of several small islands in a grouping known as the Elizabeth Islands, located off the mainland of Massachusetts. She was rescued from the sea when only a newborn by Osh, who took her in and raised her as his own child. Although generally happy with her life on the islands, Crow begins to wonder about her origins and especially why she was sent out on a rickety skiff away from her family just hours after she was born.

She learns that a neighboring island, Penikese, had previously housed people with leprosy and that the local residents of Cuttyhunk believe that she was born on the island. Because they think she was sent from the island as a baby they have always treated her...