Olivia is ten years old. Her first big problem is that her mother has died. The second big problem is that her father doesn't really know how to go on living.

Olivia and her father's home is a small boat sitting in the garden of a barbershop. "Temporarily," says her dad. But how long is "temporarily?" Olivia is in a new community, going to a new school, and has to figure out on her own how to grow up with the new normal of no mother and a father who is physically present but psychologically distant. Olivia is strong, though, and shores up both her home and her family with an incontrovertible sense of humor.

Smart for her age and vulnerable, brave and funny - Olivia will steal your heart. Olivia comes from the literary line that includes Cassandra Mortmain of I Capture the Castle and Opal Buloni of Because of Winn Dixie.