"One month after man first walked on the moon, a phone call changes a young girl's summer. Instead of going home after camp, Pam spends a few days with her elderly grandmother and great aunt at their tiny cabin in the woods of northern Minnesota. With no TV or running water, it's a trip back in time. Everything is done the old-fashioned way. The forest and its wildlife draw her in, while the dark waters of the lake force her to face one of her deepest fears. Gradually, Pam's curiosity unveils the details of Gramma May's unique life: Growing up in the early 1900s on Minnesota's budding Iron Range, she never married, became a rare female doctor, and during the Great Depression adopted a baby--the author's mother." -- Back cover.