Rooney Boone — Mary Ann Artrip

Brookhaven Institute is a pretty name for a madhouse where throwaway kids can sometimes end up dead. Rooney is on the run, her state-issued tatters no match against the winter's fury. Surely the fates could be kinder. Set in the mid-sixties in the Appalachian Mountains, Rooney Boone -- in her twelve years upon this earth has lost the ability to trust. And she wonders why God hates her. Then she finds majesty in the human heart.