Summary

At the age of 10, Charlotte was still at the orphanage. She was different from most girls because she did not like dolls and could not sew. She wore a strap of leather tied around her wrist. The orphanage’s cook, Mrs. Boyle, was in charge of her. She made Charlotte work in the kitchen as her assistant, which Charlotte hated.

Each day after she finished her kitchen duties Charlotte went to the stables. She was planning to ride in the pasture race. When she arrived at the stable, the horses poked their heads out of their stalls to greet her. Vern, who tended the horses, had given each horse a name with a meaning.

Charlotte’s favorite horse was Freedom. Vern, a former slave, had named her Freedom after his own story of running away to be free. When he ran, he had “nothing...