Based on a remarkable true story.

Winter, 1969. Since she was a little girl, Catarina learned not to ask for much. Born to a family of corn farmers in rural south Brazil, she was happiest when she was surrounded by sprawling fields and burly, familial farmhands—until her family is driven out of the land they had worked diligently for years, and Catarina is sent to work for a wealthy family in Sao Paolo.

Only ten years old, Catarina becomes a housemaid—and the lifeline of her family. Far from everyone and everything she’d ever known, she discovers the shocking gap between her life in the country and the lives of her employers, who enjoy lavish dinners and luxuries while her family huddles for warmth in a crumbling home without running water.

But Catarina would not let it be her fate.

Impoverished yet full of hope, she vows to pursue a better life than what her parents destined for her. She knows the only way out is a proper education, but what school will accept a poor, uneducated girl? And then there is this boy, Rafael, whom she can’t keep out of her mind for long. Can Catarina take her fate into her own hands? Or is there nothing she can do to escape the life of a poor crop farmer’s daughter?

With a uniquely authentic voice, Ioni Goldstein tells a hopeful story of grit and resilience. If you love the works of Rachel Wesson and Delia Owens, you will be glued to this inspiring and unforgettable journey.