The most devastating birthday gift: an illuminated verse about charity, received the very evening her father dies. So begins Charity Mitchel's journey toward the meaning of her own name. Sent to live with distant relatives, the gentle ten-year-old faces cousins who mock her gentle spirit, especially the rough boys George and Wilfred, who delight in goading her younger brother Edwin. When their prank leaves her injured and in pain, Charity must choose: fight back, or prove what it truly means to overcome evil with good. The verse she carries becomes her compass, and her steady patience gradually transforms her persecutors into allies. A Victorian gem about how one quiet girl, through relentless kindness, can soften a whole household and point a lost boy toward faith. For readers who believe that goodness, quietly wielded, is the strongest force in the world.
