Heather Newton Books

In 1969, as Karl Wallenda prepares to tight-rope walk across the gorge in the tiny town of Tonola Falls, Georgia, faculty families at the McMullen Boarding School learn about racism, war, and what makes a hero.

Three daughters of a famed and eccentric puppeteer must confront their family divisions and tenuous relationships with their father and each other when, sinking into dementia, he announces there is a fourth daughter in this powerful story of family, ambition, and legacy.