Despite the danger and their mama's terrible fear of being sold off or worse. Summer and Rosco are determined to fulfill their dreams. In stolen moments, Rosco teaches Summer all he has learned from eavesdropping on young master Lowell's lessons. In the meantime Rosco secretly plans his own escape to the North, to join the Union forces. But when Gideon Parnell unexpectedly falls ill and the plantation is taken over by Parnell's cruel brother-in-law, Rosco's decision becomes more complicated. How can he leave his family now? And Summer, struggling to understand her mama's perplexing actions, discovers that Mama has a silent thunder of her own -- and secrets Summer never dreamed of.

Through the voices of Rosco and Summer, this wrenching yet hopeful novel celebrates