Newbery Medal 1981
ALA Notable Children’s Book 1976-1980
School Library Journal Best Books of 1980
Best of the 80’s YA Novels (English Journal)
Best of the 80’s (ALA Booklist)
“Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. . . .” With her grandmother’s taunt, Louise know that she, like the biblical Esau, was the despised elder twin. Caroline, her selfish younger sister, was the one everyone Loved. Growing up on a tiny Chesapeake Bay island in the early 1940s, angry Louise reveals how Caroline robbed her of everything: her hopes for schooling, her friends, her mother, even her name. While everyone pampered Caroline, Wheeze (her sister’s name for her) began to learn the ways of the watermen and the secretes of the island, especially of old Captain Wallace, who had mysteriously returned after fifty years. The war unexpectedly gave this independent girl a chance to fulfill her childish dream to work as a waterman alongside her father. But the dream did not satisfy the woman she was becoming. Alone and unsure, Louise began to fight her way to a place where Caroline could not reach.
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
ISBN 9780064403689
