Raised since age six by a band of robbers, the Robber Girl has never questioned their leader Gentleman Jack’s story of finding her after she was abandoned by her mother. When Gentleman Jack is arrested during a stagecoach robbery, the girl, who was acting as a decoy, is taken in by the judge and his wife in the town of Blue Rose. People in Blue Rose worship the Seventh Sister, who grants boons to the faithful. The town long ago lost its songbird who sang praise to the Seventh’s Sister daily, but the townspeople continue to honor her. When the judge and his wife, mourning their two children who died of smallpox the year before, ask the girl to choose a name, she picks Starling without knowing why. In the attic of the judge’s house is magnificent dollhouse with a mother and father doll. The dolls ask Starling to bring them three things: a dog, a collar for the dog, and a baby. Starling is determined to grant their request, just as she is determined to free Gentleman Jack before his trial. This mesmerizing tale of manipulation and misplaced loyalty; memory and trauma; loss and healing and love; and learning to trust the voice inside oneself features characters presenting white, and a setting with the feel of the American old west but bound by unique elements of fantasy. At its heart, it’s a story so very human. (Ages 9-13)