HAIRT BEFORE DAWN

Nothing--not blindness, not shunning or fire demons, not even the evil Mr. Dayton--can stop Hairt when she follows the spirit of her birth mother and sets out to prove her worth.

HAIRT BEFORE DAWN is
a fascinating coming of age novel,  a magical tale of haunting music and a hovering spirit, a realistic account of the Black Patch Wars, an intriguing story of blind school, and a stirring look at Christian family life with a faithful coonhound.
MIDDLE TENNESSEE, 1904. The Black Patch is torn apart in a violent struggle between tobacco farmers and against big business. Fifteen-year-old Harriette Lindstrom, called dumb Hairt, is caught up in the conflict. Totally blind and determined to prove she can do more than milk cows and work tobacco, she leaves the farm, her adopted family, and her beloved coonhound Mutt. At the Tennessee School for the Blind, she finds friends, learns her singing is exceptional, and meets the boy with a special voice. Best of all, surgery restores some of her vision, and she lives her dreams of love and acceptance--until she learns she is the granddaughter of the wealthy and overbearing Mrs. Barrington. Then she is bombarded with anonymous Braille notes full of groundless accusations, and her dreams turn into nightmares of persecution and fear. Barrington Manor is no refuge for Hairt. She must escape its gothic entrapment to stand with her farm family against the dreaded Night Riders of the Tobacco Cooperative.