Briar Hopper: A Novel, by Dan L. Walker

Fourteen-year-old Margaret Ann Scofield has always admired her charming, restless father. But when she leaves rural Ohio to work as a nanny in Cincinnati during the Great Depression, the summer brings more than the independence she hoped for.

In the city, Margaret discovers a secret that changes everything she thought she knew about her family. At the same time, the man who employs her begins crossing boundaries; with danger closing in and her father missing somewhere in the Kentucky hills, Margaret must find the courage to follow the truth wherever it leads.

Set between Cincinnati and rural Kentucky, Briar Hopper is a coming-of-age novel about family loyalty, buried shame, and a young woman learning that strength sometimes means refusing to stay silent.