“She’s the best doll in my whole collection.”
Abby listened to Adele’s chatter and then said hello to Pop and to Helen. When she had hung up the phone, she pulled Nate’s spare key out of her purse, locked his door, and continued upstairs to her apartment.
She opened the door, turned on the light, and wished she had a cat. Something friendly and warm to greet her at the end of the day. She hung her coat on the rack and took the pork chop into the tiny kitchen. Abby had lived in this apartment for almost two years and still couldn’t quite believe how small the kitchen was.
The pork chop was sizzling in a pan and Abby was listening to the news on the radio when her doorbell rang. Abby scowled. Mrs. Graumann had a habit of showing up just as she was getting ready to eat. Abby flung open the door, preparing to tell Mrs. Graumann that she had only one pork chop.
Zander Burley stood before her. He was holding a dozen red roses.
He looked exactly the same, and exactly different. Abby felt as if one second had passed, not five years, and she was standing in the Burleys’ parlor in the fading light, watching Zander’s face crumple.
Zander held out the roses. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said. “Will you marry me?”
This book, which I approached with some trepidation, since it was my first foray into writing about an era that was before my time, would not have taken shape without the help of a number of people who generously shared their time and talents with me, both when the story was in its infancy, and at later stages as it unfolded. Noa Wheeler, my intrepid researcher, was a marvel at problem solving, and at finding creative ways to address my many, many … many questions. From locating people for interviews to sussing out obscure articles, she allowed me to give depth, color, and detail to the characters and the setting.
Special thanks to Betty Knight, who was twice interviewed by Noa, and who painted a fascinating picture of her childhood. Born in 1926, she grew up in a rural Maine community, and she patiently answered our endless questions about everything from iceboxes to wallpaper to working women.
Thanks, too, to Professor Stephen Murphy at the University of Southern Maine for his help with our queries about schooling for Abby’s brother Fred.
Several people in my own family, all long gone by the time I began working on Family Tree, nevertheless inspired the story in their own ways. From my great-aunt Grace I inherited three cartons of memorabilia and family papers, including her copy of My School Days Memory Book, in which I found many details for Abby’s Commencement Days book and her high school graduation.
In 1918 my great-grandfather sent his daughter Adele, my grandmother, a three-page letter that has now become famous in our family. In it, he counseled Adele, whose fiancé (my grandfather Lyman Martin) had just proposed to her, to wait to get married until after Lyman had finished his service in World War I and was in a better position to provide for her. “Why not act in this matter just as both of you have acted up to this point,” my great-grandfather wrote, “with reason, and regard for propriety?” But my grandmother was as headstrong as Abby Nichols proved to be when Luther counseled her to marry Zander. Abby turned down Zander’s proposal, and my grandparents got married almost immediately, while my grandfather was on a three-day pass from the army. (And they lived happily ever after.)
Finally, many thanks to my editor, David Levithan; my agent, Amy Berkower; and Ellie Berger, Charisse Meloto, Lizette Serrano, Rachel Coun, and the team at Scholastic.
I’m deeply grateful to everyone who played a part in the story of Abigail Cora Nichols.
Thank you.
Ann M. Martin in the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.
ALSO BY ANN M. MARTIN:
Belle Teal
A Corner of the Universe
A Dog’s Life
Everything for a Dog
Here Today
On Christmas Eve
P.S. Longer Letter Later
written with Paula Danziger
Snail Mail No More
written with Paula Danziger
Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far)
Ten Kids, No Pets
Ten Rules for Living with My Sister
The Baby-sitters Club series
The Doll People series
written with Laura Godwin
The Main Street series
Copyright © 2013 by Ann M. Martin
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martin, Ann M., 1955–
Better to wish / Ann M. Martin. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Family tree; bk. 1)
Summary: In 1930 Abby Nichols is an eight-year-old girl growing up in Maine, but as the Depression deepens, and her mother dies, the responsibility of taking care of her family falls to her, and she has to put her dreams of going to college and becoming a writer on hold.
ISBN 978-0-545-35942-9 (jacketed hardcover) 1. Families — Maine — Juvenile fiction. 2. Depressions — 1929 — Juvenile fiction. 3. Maine — History — 20th century — Juvenile fiction. [1. Family life — Maine — Fiction. 2. Depressions — 1929 — Fiction. 3. Maine — History — 20th century — Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M3567585Bf 2013
813.54 — dc23
2012047940
First edition, May 2013
e-ISBN 978-0-545-53926-5
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Ann M. Martin, Better to Wish
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