Nobody's Child

Winter is reluctantly giving way to spring across a quiet Midwestern landscape, and seventeen‑year‑old Ann Penniman rides her horse along a rarely‑traveled road that skirts an old, overgrown iron‑ore pit. The fields, woods, and a winding creek are just waking from frost, and Ann watches the world change with a mixture of hope and melancholy. As a fox darts across the path, the distant thunder of hounds and hunters erupts, turning the tranquil scene into a sudden burst of activity.

Ann knows the rhythm of the local Fox‑Ridge Hunt—its aristocratic riders, the pack of hounds, and the chase that sweeps through the woods and over the Mine Banks. While she feels both fascination and pity for the hunted animal, she also senses a deeper restlessness within herself, as if the hunt reflects something unresolved in her own life. The story follows her as she navigates the expectations of her family and the pull of the open countryside, hinting at choices that could reshape her future.