Excerpt from All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

I need something new and promising, too, and I think an enigma like Trula Freed might be just the thing to hone my empirical thinking.

As fate would have it, the very next week, our paths cross.

When Assassin gets set on fire.

Chapter 4
BERT: EXILED

The week after Ma and the baby get buried in the Tucker cemetery, Pa says he's sending me away. He got a letter from his sister Violet, who lives clear cross North Carolina. I don't recollect ever meeting his sister Violet, but Pa says she's kin and in the family way and needs help, so I'm going. He found money for a one-way ticket on a bus outta Asheville that leaves at first light. He let Violet know I'm coming so the deed is done and I don't have no say. I thought bout running away and living in the woods, but that would hurt Pa to have to look for me. He can't help if he's got a wayward girl. All the same, my heart aches.

When can I come home? I wanna know, riding that goodbye journey in the truck that bounces over ruts, with Pa looking straight ahead and his jaw set hard. We go down, down the mountainside, and the chill leaves the air, and the air turns mild and buildings grow close, then rise up, and electric lights on the hard road chase the dark away cause we're in Asheville. Pa's a shy man so it's me who asks strangers for the way to the bus station, and we find it.

How you gonna know I'm okay? I wanna know before I climb the three steps into the belly of the bus, hugging my paper satchel holding clothes and my treasure box, but I don't wanna sound weak.

You gonna miss me? I wanna know but don't say. I go to the dim back of the bus to sit beside an old lady with dark skin, but she says, "Your kind gotta sit in front of that line," and she points to a faded mark on the floor. I hurry to find another seat quick and look out the window, hoping to catch sight of Pa looking back waving, but he's already going back to where we come from.

My punishment is exile from my homeland—­like the Nation of Israelites in the Old Testament. It's what happens when you disobey and disrespect. The Lord keeps score. Exile is worse than being dead or struck blind. I hold back my tears. I gotta turn brave.

Excerpted from All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss. Copyright © 2021 by Leah Weiss. Excerpted by permission of Sourcebooks. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.