Dear Rhodora

1862, Philadelphia, USA.

Charlotte Bice, orphaned at age eight, is taken in by one of the city's most prominent families, the Whitcombs, with the promise that she would be raised as a lady. The Whitcombs are certainly not as respectable as they present themselves, and the worst of all is William: the temperamental middle child, who rarely has a kind word to say to her.

Now an introspective young woman, Charlotte struggles to find herself in a society where ladies are expected to be as beautiful as empty. Her future already uncertain, Charlotte's hopes are shaken once again by a letter from an exhausted William, who has enlisted in the Union Army two years prior.

This letter reveals an astonishingly different man than the one she remembers. Even more surprisingly, Charlotte likes this man. A lot.