After the Dancing Days

So much had changed in one year.... One year ago, I believed my mother knew everything and that I would never have cause to disobey her. I knew my father could heal anyone .... And I thought Uncle Paul had died in glory. Thirteen-year-old Annie waits at the train station for her father, a doctor. It is 1919, the Great War is over, and the wounded are returning to a small town near Kansas City from the battlefields of France. When her father decides to continue his work at the veterans' hospital, Annie finds she is drawn to the place for reasons she doesn't understand. There she meets Andrew, a horribly burned young veteran who is bitterly withdrawn from all around him. Acting against the express wishes of her strong-willed mother, Annie continues to visit the hospital, helping Andrew come out of his shell. Together they discover the devastating truth about Uncle Paul's death. Then Annie must confront her mother's anger and the ironies of heroism. AFTER THE DANCING DAYS is a timeless first novel about a young girl's first steps into the complex world of adulthood.