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It’s 1908.  Eleven-year-old Innie Moretti loves the library club at the new settlement house for immigrant girls in Boston’s North End.  She delights in borrowing books, listening to stories, dancing, and making friends.  But soon strange things start to happen at the settlement house.  Items go missing or turn up in odd places.  Is it a thief—or could the house be haunted?  There is a cemetery just across the street.  As Innie tries to solve the mystery, she starts looking guilty herself!

“Is anyone better than Katherine Ayres at turning history into engaging stories for young readers?  I think not . . .  Ayres weaves the city’s history into this suspenseful tale, beginning with the disastrous Chelsea fire of 1908 that left 17,000 people homeless . . .   This is a masterful story that vividly captures Innie’s pain and confusion as she is wrongly accused.  Any preteen—as well as any of us who used to be a preteen—will strongly identify with her plight and will sigh with relief when she uncovers the identity of the real thief.”  Ohioana Quarterly 

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