Moon Over Manifest

The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I’d seen only in Gideon’s stories: Manifest—A Town with a rich past and a bright future.

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.

Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”

Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.

Powerful in its simplicity and rich in historical detail, Clare Vanderpool’s debut is a gripping story of loss and redemption.



CHARACTERS

Manifest townspeople of 1918

Shady Howard: saloon owner and bootlegger
Jinx: con artist extraordinaire
Ned Gillen: Manifest High School track star
Hattie Mae Harper: up-and-coming journalist for the Manifest Herald
The Hungarian Woman: owner and operator of Miss Sadie’s Divining Parlor
Sister Redempta: nun, not a universal
Ivan DeVore: postmaster
Velma T. Harkrader: chemistry teacher and maker of home remedies
Mr. Underhill: undertaker
Hadley Gillen: Ned’s father and owner of the hardware store
Eudora Larkin: president of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Manifest chapter)
Pearl Ann Larkin: daughter of Mrs. Larkin, and Ned’s girl
Arthur Devlin: mine owner
Lester Burton: pit boss
Finn: Jinx’s uncle


Additional townspeople and their countries of origin

Donal MacGregor: Scotland
Callisto Matenopoulos: Greece
Casimir and Etta (and little Eva) Cybulskis: Poland
Olaf and Greta Akkerson: Norway
Mama Santoni: Italy
Hermann Keufer: Germany
Nikolai Yezierska: Russia

Manifest townspeople of 1936

Abilene Tucker: new girl in town
Gideon Tucker: Abilene’s father
Lettie and Ruthanne: friends of Abilene
Pastor Shady Howard: still a little shady
Hattie Mae Macke: still writing “Hattie Mae’s News
Auxiliary”
Ivan DeVore: still postmaster
Velma T.: still the chemistry teacher
Sister Redempta: still a nun
Miss Sadie: still a diviner
Mr. Underhill: still the undertaker
Mr. Cooper: the barber
Mrs. Dawkins: owner of Dawkins Drug and Dime
Mrs. Evans: woman who sits on her porch and stares