"Josephine Margaret Butler ("Jos") is the second oldest child in a large, poor family living in Summit, Kentucky, in 1963 - a brilliant tomboy who is always getting into some sort of trouble. Her father is the town's iconoclast, a principled man who reacts alternately with belligerence and humor; her mother is a loving, gentle woman who retreats into herself after a miscarriage." "In the coming year, Jos and her sister Ellie must run the household, caring for their siblings and difficult father, while the tensions over race relations and the Vietnam War that have been tearing at the fabric of the country begin to reach their insular small town. In addition, Jos finds herself fascinated with the local riding teacher - rumored about town to be "queer" - leading her to fully act upon her secret passion for women. Over the course of a year of dramatic change - internal and external - Jos, trapped in a stifling family dynamic and a small town resisting the era's sweeping change, must use her only asset - her intellect - as a means of escape."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved