The vexing troubles, the secrets, and the unacknowledged love that cling to a family sometimes speak very loudly. It's just a toy, the little rubber shoe that Mattie finds in her deceased father's car. She uses this shoe to uncover the mystery of her past, and she begins to open her heart to her difficult, brittle mother and the father she thought she knew. "Merlington has found the essence of each character and offers it forth as a blending of her understanding and the author's meaning."—AudioFile