The year is 1867, and seventeen-year-old Verity Boone is excited to return to Catawissa, pennsylvania, the hometown she left when she was just a baby. Now she will finally meet the fiance she knows only through letters! Soon, however, she discovers two strangely caged graves...and learns that one of them is her own mother's. Verity swears she'll get to the bottom of why her mother was buried in "unhallowed ground" in this suspenseful teen mystery that swirls with rumours of witchcraft, buried gold from the days of the War of Independence, and even more shocking family secrets.

 

This book was recognised by the Green Mountain Book Award. It was recognised in the YA category by the South Carolina Childrens Junior and Young Adult Book Award.

There are 336 pages in this book. This book was published 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company .

Dianne K. Salerni was inspired to write this novel after finding two real-life caged graves. She is a fifth grade teacher and children's book author who lives in New London, Pennsylvania. Visit her website at www. highspiritsbook. com.