In this engaging historical novel set in 1918, 16-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks leaves Iowa and travels to a Montana homestead inherited from her uncle. In the beautiful but harsh setting, she has less than a year to fence and cultivate the land in order to keep it. Neighbors who welcome Hattie help heal the hurt she has suffered from years of feeling unwanted. Chapters open with short articles that Hattie writes for an Iowa newspaper or her lively letters to a friend and possible beau who is in the military in France. The authentic first-person narrative, full of hope and anxiety, effectively portrays Hattie's struggles as a young woman with limited options, a homesteader facing terrible odds, and a loyal citizen confused about the war and the local anti-German bias that endangers her new friends.
从小失去双亲的海蒂一直过着寄人篱下的生活，不停地在亲戚家之间“穿梭”。她对于不得不看别人脸色过活感到十分厌倦。当她听到从未谋面的查斯特舅舅在蒙大拿留下一大片土地让她继承时，她决心离开这个自己不是很喜欢的家，尝试去寻找完全属于自己的天空。对于人生地不熟的海蒂来说，在一块全然陌生的土地上建立一个新家，是一份颇具挑战性的工作。幸好有卡尔·慕勒一家人的帮忙，加上公鸡吉姆、莉菲等人的拼死相帮，才使她有勇气继续苦撑下去。
在努力垦荒的过程中，她领悟到，原来离家的目的是为了寻找一个更好的归宿。她不但有了朋友，而且收获了青涩的爱情。虽然蒙大拿并不是她的终点，但在她今后的人生道路上，蒙大拿之行一定会成为她永不磨灭的记忆。
本书获纽伯瑞儿童文学奖银奖。
By Kirby Larson, Paperback, Simplified Chinese Characters, 302 pages, 7.9"x5.8"
