Under Sealed Orders
1929
In a world that measures a man's worth in coins, David Findley discovers just how little a pauper is worth. Once a respected figure, he now stands near Break Neck Falls, listening to the water's roar a symbol of power and potential that society denies him. When a young man cruelly reminds him that visions mean nothing without money, David's fall from grace is complete. He is sold to the lowest bidder, auctioned like livestock to the merciless Jim Goban. But hope arrives in the form of Betty Bean, a spirited young girl who sees not a beggar, but a human being worthy of dignity. Their unlikely bond becomes a quiet act of rebellion against a system that grinds the poor into dust. When Jasper Randall another soul burdened by society's rigid constraints intervenes, David finds himself with a chance at escape. This is a novel about what happens when the discarded refuse to stay discarded, and how compassion can bloom even in the cruelest conditions. Cody writes with earnest conviction about the forgotten corners of early 20th-century life, where kindness is radical and survival is its own form of resistance. For readers who believe literature should hold a mirror to injustice and demand we do better.
