Therese and Rose Marsh live in a small town in Kansas.  They were both teenagers during the majority of the work on this novel.  Therese entered her twenties before completion however.  Therese is the introverted older sister and Rose is the extraverted younger sister.
      For years they "talked out" stories to each other.  Each story, as the years passed, became a tale of how certain characters were brought into a new environment in which they did not belong and how they dealt with the ensuing challenges.  This book is one of those stories.  Originally, it was just a tale, like the others that the two sisters would make up while talking with each other.  Then one day, Therese suggested making it into a book because it was so good.  Rose disagreed, but soon got on board when her sister decided to write it by herself.  The authors both agree that if only one or the other of them had written this novel, it would have lacked many good things.  Together they were able to enrich their story with the talents of both the introvert and the extrovert.  (A lesson to you sisters out there who are opposites and have trouble getting along!  Appreciate each other's talents and good things will happen!)

Therese & Rose