After the death of the beloved aunt who has raised her, twelve-year-old Summer and her uncle Ob leave their West Virginia trailer in search of the strength to go on living.

"Cutie Grackle is used to being different--she lives alone on a mountain with her feeble-minded uncle, and when she's not sucking pebbles to trick her stomach into feeling full, she's chatting with a weathered garden gnome for company. But having a flock of ravens follow you is more than just different. Cutie worries the birds are connected to the curse Uncle Horace tends to mutter about. And she's right. The ravens present her with a fortune from...