Janny

288 pp. "Fifteen-year-old Janice Bartley - Janny for short - had lived most of her life in Painted Post, Canada, in the woods north of Lake Superior. Orphaned six years before, when her prospector father had died, she was raised by Doctor John and Mother Faire until the day her Uncle Nicholas arrived from New York State, and took her home with him to Newton. Here Janny found that life was not entirely happy and loving, in the affluent Bartley home on Maple Avenue. Her Aunt Maddy was cold and distant, something of a snob, and prone to headaches. Her cousin Carol wanted nothing to do with such a "gawk," going out of her way to be unpleasant and even cruel, while Carol's twin brothers, Charlie and Kevin, were indifferent and hostile, respectively. Uncle Nicholas himself seemed to care for her welfare, but he was often absent, and not very involved in her day-to-day life. Only her friendship with Cousin Amy, another "poor relation," and her school life kept Janny from total despair. When tragedy struck the Bartleys however, it provided just the "shaking up" that Cousin Amy said they needed, leading to many changes, both in individual members of the family, and in their relations with one another..."--GoodReads Review