Grace Houston (aka Sailor Girl)

Grace is fifteen when they move to Annapolis in the latest transfer that her naval father has accepted. Her whole life has been a series of moves and upheavals, but her close family ties make happiness possible. As such however, Grace tends to keep friendships to a minimum, knowing that the time they spend in any one town is short. She spends a lot of time reading, and thinks of herself as a butterfly that is still in its cocoon, ready to emerge, but filled with fear rather than excitement.

Their latest move to Norfolk is one that both her father and mother claim will have some permanence, so Grace begins to open herself up just a little bit. She makes one friend, whose own troubles take her away shortly afterward, and then becomes interested in a boy she meets and he in her...