2011年紐伯瑞獎作品

      1963年的夏天，Abilene竟被她的父親寄送到一個老朋友家看養。父親為了接下一個鐵路的工作而出此下策，Abilene卻無法接受這個似是將自己遺棄的決定。所以Abilene在火車上決定中途逃脫，於Manifest小鎮跳下火車。
      Abilene很快地就發現這個乾燥、破舊的古老小鎮簡直無聊至極。直到有一天她找到了一個雪茄盒，裡頭的信物和神祕的紙箋提及了一個被稱作「響尾蛇」的間諜。百無聊賴的生活就此轉變，Abilene夥同她的心朋友Lettie和 Ruthanne，決心找出這個雪茄盒所藏住的一樁秘密…

Winner of the 2011 Newbery Award.

The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I d seen only in Gideon s stories: Manifest A Town with a rich past and a bright future. 

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.

Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to Leave Well Enough Alone. 

Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town. 

Powerful in its simplicity and rich in historical detail, Clare Vanderpool s debut is a gripping story of loss and redemption.

From the Hardcover edition."