Summary

It is the summer of 1930 when Theodora “Thea” Atwell is transported from her family’s 1,000-acre ranch in central Florida to the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Though it is the start of the Great Depression, Thea’s family is able to afford the camp because her father is a physician and the Atwell’s have “family money.”

The book opens with Thea and her father driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains, where the camp is located. They arrive and Thea is in awe of the main building, called the “Castle,” as it is built on stilts into the mountain. Thea and her father are promptly greeted by Henry Holmes, the headmaster. They all head inside, where Thea’s father and Mr. Holmes ask to speak privately. Thea waits outside and sees several stacks of brochures. One says Yonahlossee...