Adult

In many ways, Carrie Parker is like any other eight-year-old --- playing make-believe, going to school, dreaming of faraway places. But even in her imagination, she can't pretend away the hardships of her impoverished North Carolina home or protect her younger sister, Emma. As the big sister, Carrie is determined to do anything to keep Emma safe from a life of neglect and abuse at the hands of their drunken stepfather. But after the sisters' plan to run away from home unravels, Carrie's world takes a shocking turn --- and one shattering moment ultimately reveals a truth that leaves everyone reeling.

Vivid images of the elderly Marina's youth in war-torn Leningrad arise unbidden, carrying her back to the terrible fall of 1941, when she was a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum and the German army began a long, torturous siege on the city. As the people braved starvation and bitter cold, Marina joined other staff members in removing the museum's priceless masterpieces for safekeeping.

Tall, slender Violet Mathers is growing up in the Great Depression, which could just as well define her state of mind. Abandoned by her mother as a child, mistreated by her father, and teased by her schoolmates, the lonely girl finds solace in artistic pursuits. Only when she’s hired by the town’s sole feminist to work the night shift in the local thread factory does Violet come into her name, and bloom.