Abilene Tucker's dad sends her to the town of Manifest, Kansas. He is a railroad man who, like most of America, has hit hard times during the Great Depression. Her recent accident has caused him to send her to the town featured in many of his butterscotch stories. Abilene finds a cigar box filled with mementos and, as she works to repay Miss Sadie, a diviner, for a flower pot broken as she attempts to retrieve her father's compass, she is told stories giving each of the mementos meaning. She also finds old newspaper columns by Hattie Mae Harper (1918) which lend credibility to Miss Sadie's stories. Abilene and her friends attempt to solve the mystery of The Rattler, discovering "Memories are like sunshine. They warmed you up and left a pleasant glow, but you couldn't hold them," and "The Lord Himself knew the power of a good story, how it can reach out and wrap around a person like a warm blanket."
Moon Over Manifest alternates between events that occurred in 1918 - including World War I, the Spanish Flu Epidemic, and prohibition, and happenings in 1936 - the Depression, telling of Abilene's search to find some trace of her father in Manifest. The reader rejoices with her success and the courage of the people of Manifest, both in 1918 and 1936, in this bittersweet work of historical fiction.
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