Truth is a double-edged sword -- that's what author Susan Gates cautions young readers in this coming-of-age novel about a young girl called Firebird who opens a Pandora's box of family secrets that bring great pain and yet set her free.
Thirteen-year-old Firebird and her twin brother, Ford, have never been to school. In fact, they have never been to the city, or even stepped out of the swamp that they call home. They lead reclusive lives with their father, Trapper, and their grandmother, catching eels for a living and marking time by the changing advertisements on the giant highway-billboard that shields their home from public view.