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Intro
At the beginning of summer vacation, 1936, Deza Malone’s life is going pretty well, even though it’s the height of the Great Depression and Deza’s family is struggling to make ends meet on the income her mother, Mrs. Malone, makes as a housekeeper for the wealthy White Carsdale family. Deza’s father, Mr. Malone, has been unemployed for months. The family can barely afford to keep food on the table, or to get proper medical or dental care for Deza and her older brother, Jimmie. But Deza adores her family, and she firmly believes that they are, according to their family motto, on “a journey to a place called Wonderful.” Jimmie’s talent lies in singing and Deza is a gifted student. Many of the adults around her, including her parents, her teacher Mrs. Needham, and local professor Dr. Bracy recognize her potential and want to foster it.
But then things start going wrong. A few days into the summer, Mr. Malone goes on a Sunday fishing trip on Lake Michigan with his friends Mr. Henderson, Carlos, and Hank. There’s an accident, and Mr. Malone is the only survivor. He’s missing for days because the boat that rescued him took him to a hospital in Chicago. After he comes home, Deza helps nurse him back to physical health, but he’s still emotionally traumatized. Not long afterward, he decides to leave his family in Gary and go look for work in Flint, Michigan (his hometown). Then, the Carsdale family decides to move to Europe, which means that Mrs. Malone’s job disappears. She decides that she, Jimmie, and Deza will follow Mr. Malone to Flint and hopefully find him there. But they have no way to get there other than to jump a train, since their friendly neighbors the Rhymes family have had their car repossessed due to financial stress.
When Deza arrives in Flint, she’s lost almost everything: her best friend Clarice, her chance of being tutored by Mrs. Needham, and even her most prized possessions (a dictionary and thesaurus Jimmie gave her as a birthday present, and a beautiful, brand-new dress from Mrs. Needham). With very little money, the three Malones end up squatting in an encampment of unhoused people outside of Flint. It’s a hard life, but the kindness of others, especially unofficial camp mayor Donna Stewart, they make it work. When a white musician named Mr. Zee hears Jimmie singing, he encourages Jimmie to head for Chicago or Detroit to try to make a living as a singer. Jimmie jumps on a train and leaves. The same day, authorities raid and close down the camp. Luckily, Mrs. Malone finds them a rental room to rent in town so she can continue to work and Deza can go to school.
Not long after Deza’s 13th birthday, she and Mrs. Malone receive a letter (and cash) purporting to be from Mr. Malone. It says that he’s working as a traveling carpenter. From that point on, Deza finds a letter—and cash—every two weeks, but she doesn’t hear from Jimmie. Then, one day, she runs into Mr. Zee, who tells her that Jimmie is singing at a nightclub in Detroit. Deza sneaks out and takes a bus to Detroit one night while Mrs. Malone is at work, and she finds her brother exactly where Mr. Zee said he would be. Jimmie is a wildly successful singer. He takes Deza to a dentist and pays to have her teeth fixed before sending her back to their mother in Flint.
Then, one day, there’s a package—with keys to a rental house in Gary—instead of a letter. As soon as the school year ends, Mrs. Malone and Deza head back home. Deza is happy to be back, but many things have changed. Clarice’s family and Mrs. Needham have moved away.
Not long afterward, Mrs. Malone takes Deza with her to Lansing, where she thinks Mr. Malone might be resident under another name. Sure enough, she and Deza find Mr. Malone. He tells them that he fell ill almost immediately after he left Gary, and he was too confused by trauma and grief to find them or to get to Flint. Belatedly, Deza realizes what Mrs. Malone figured out months ago: the letters and the cash have been from Jimmie. Mrs. Malone cleans up Mr. Malone, then she and Deza take him back to Gary. The story ends with Deza hopeful and optimistic about her family’s future.
