Timothy Jessup is a wise and sensitive 11-year-old orphan boy. He has an inseparable friend, a beautiful and fiery toddler Gabriella, who is called Lady Gay, and a faithful dog named Rags. They are forced to take care of themselves and Timothy takes the role of guardian for Lady Gay. Forces of circumstance bring the children to White Farm where they are, reluctantly and quite temporarily, taken in by two older women. During their stay at the farm, they are both dealing with anguishing issues from their past.

Charming story written in the l890’s about an orphan boy and a toddler who run away from a foster home after their caregiver dies. A book about the hope of finding love from strangers, contrasting the simplicity of what a child looks for with the complexity that adults create.

Kate Douglas Wiggin, nee Smith (1856-1923) was an American children's author and educator. She was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the "Silver Street Free Kindergarten"). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers.