Foreword
We are pleased to present this new manuscript by author, Grace Wilkinson. An admirable job has been done here in presenting the facts as they may fall regarding one of many families in the United States who find themselves in a similar predicament to that of the Waterfords.
Mrs. Wilkinson has used the poignant vehicle of a young idealistic girl, newly married into a rural family to point out what can happen to the young and unprepared when faced with new and unknown situations.
It is curious to note that Sally does an admirable job of holding up under the almost unbearable strains of her new family life. Faced with an insensitive husband, a mocking brother-in-law and a sister-in-law whose hostility is blatant, Sally proves that she can roll with the punches and ends up by the final climactic pages of this fast-paced novel a Waterford just like the rest of them.
Whether this is a situation to be desired or not, we will leave up to the reader to decide, but one thing is certain: Sally Waterford has become united with her husband as well as her husband's family, for better or for worse.
Anyone who has ever lived in a small town can easily recognize the characters that this exciting, hard-hitting novel offers. They have always existed and always will, and no amount of education or aid is going to change that.
This novel peels back the hypocritical facade that has lain for so long over such intimate family groups, and we welcome this candid attempt at presenting such anomalies in a human and novel light.
-The Publishers Sausalito, California January, 1973