The title has no caps in its published edition.
A teen girl who calls her self Heidi runs away from home by hopping into an empty boxcar. She meets a kind ageing man Bo Scribbler inside the same boxcar, who takes her under his wing. He is no pedophile but treats her like his daughter. He panders to her wandering lust, hoping she would be sated and ready to return home after a spell of sight-seeing.
Bo has a girlfriend nicknamed Corbeau. She likes Heidi too.
The novel is told through points of view of its main characters, Bo Scribbler (Joseph Reisen), Heidi, Corbeau (Luella Frank). When Heidi first met Bo, he told her he used his nickname. It was only after they trusted one another that revealed their actual names.
In the same fashion of trust, Heidi only reveals the real reason why she ran away from home after she had spent quality time with Bo and Corbeau. This secret was hinted at right in the beginning when Heidi blurted out something revealing. Bo dismissed it as a remark born out of her nightmare. When Heidi learned to trust her hobo friends, she was calling them by their real names, Joe and Ella. The secret is told around the half way mark of the book. I think I should not spoil the story by disclosing the secret.
At this stage, Joe and Ella seemed too good to be true. They accepted Heidi without judging her for her past.
Heidi had a boyfriend while she lived at home with her pa. However, she grew up, slowly evolved to change her preferences and fell in love again. Her new choice is a surprise selection although the author had foreshadowed it sometime earlier in the book, when she was nearly harmed by some people.
This is a nice, family story. I enjoyed the fairy tale ending.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
Reference
Wickenden, T. (2024). that girl in the boxcar. Slugado Press: Wales.
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