Present day college student Tuscany Miller introduces her professor to a box of “phenomena” and a diary that a girl named Molly Petree left at Agate Hill, the house that her father and his partner are renovating for a bed and breakfast. Through this diary and Tuscany’s additional research, we learn the saga of Molly’s life.
Molly is a spirited girl, living a rather wild life at her Uncle Junius’ house in Agate Hill, North Carolina. The family is struggling after the Civil War, and it gets worse after Uncle Junius dies. His second wife, a former tennant on the farm, invites a series of men to keep her company. It’s not long before one of the men takes an interest in Molly. Luckily an incident in the barn is interrupted by her mentally-challenged brother, and Molly is further saved by her father’s long-time friend Simon Black. Mr. Black pays for Molly to go to the Gatewood Academy.
The narrators change to the diary of the headmistress of the academy, a cold woman named Mariah Snow, and letters from her sister, the compassionate Agnes Rutherford. These women describe Molly’s success at the academy with polar opposite reactions. Mariah plots Molly’s destruction while Agnes learns to love the girl.
After Gatewood Academy, Agnes and Molly go to a remote settlement in the mountains of North Carolina to start a school. They are very successful and quite happy, until Molly falls in love. She and singer Jacky Jarvis seem to be passionately in love with each other – but with all the trouble she’s endured so far, you just know it won’t last.
Jacky dies in a mysterious fire and Molly is accused of killing him. After she is acquitted, she returns to Agate Hill and spends the rest of her days caring for her benefactor Simon Black and his small entourage of companions.
I listened to this story on audiobook during my commute to work. Some days I actually wished I would run into traffic jams so I could listen to more of the story. And a couple times I got concerned looks from passersby as I drove down the road wiping tears from my eyes. The narrators were excellent – each voice seemed to fit the character well. I liked that the ballads in the story were sung by the narrators – it really gave the story a sense of depth.
(12 CDs, 14 hours)
Blogging for a Good Book 
Great review–I’ve linked to it on my review.