Laurie O'Brien

The tragic true story of one of the worst cases of child abuse ever documented (in which a girl was locked in a room without social contact for nearly thirteen years) and what happened when she was finally rescued.

Margaret Reed, a wealthy and proud woman of Chicago unwillingly finds herself a member of the Donner party - a group of pioneers making their way to California by covered wagon in the summer of 1846. One by one the odds begin to stack against Margaret and her family as precious days slip away and an early winter storm closes ...

An abused 15 year old is charged with a murder that carries the death penalty in this fact-based story.