In this beautifully written novel about a little girl, Edith, growing up in small town America in the late 1800s, we see a picture of epilepsy as it was treated then. Edith's mother has just died, and her older sister Alena has taken her home to live, along with her husband John, little boy Vernon, and new baby Letitia. John is a difficult man, insensitive and very much a Victorian 'pater familias', and in the beginning Edith finds life with her new family hard. There is a lovable grandfather and a much less lovable gran in the family too. When Edith develops 'fits', Alena is terribly concerned and wants to cosset her. But John, who is the local school teacher, insists she must go to school. As Edith desperately wants to, she is allowed. A seizure during her very first week brings on the teasing she has dreaded, but Edith shows her mettle and faces down her tormenters with some help from Vernon and new friend Rosa. This is a short novel, full of wonderfully believable, truthful family relationships, both warm and difficult. Edith herself is so much 'herself' that one feels she will cope with all of life's contingencies.