This book was a very difficult and emotional read. I cried a lot near the end. The secrets in the book are easy to predict, and at times I wanted to tell the present day character to figure it out already! I had no knowledge of the real history the book is based on prior, and I want to learn more about the real children's stories. One thing that troubled me about the present day narrative is that it clearly took place in the South, and there are mentions of a slave cabin and plantations, but no acknowledgement about the similar tragedies that slaves experienced being separated from their children and parents. It was unsettling that the present day narrator had no qualms with developing romantic feelings while researching in a slave cabin.