title: Soaring on Moth Wings
author: Quackenbush, Jannette
description: Set in the mid 1800's, fifteen year old Nicolette Beal begins to squirm from her cocoon of childhood into adulthood surrounded by a loving, but poor family in Cincinnati. After the death of her father, she finds herself tossed from a sheltered world into the harsh surroundings of the pre-civil war era. Like a tiny moth, she flutters about feeling diminished by the butterflies that flit gracefully around her, trying to figure out who she really is through her many adventures. It is not until she is taken in by the mysterious Elijah Taylor the metamorphosis truly takes place. Even then, she finds herself tangled in the web of the Taylor's schemes to keep her from a destiny that she is not so sure that she even wants in the first place. Enjoy this bittersweet taste of growing up during a momentous time in history before the Civil War.